New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
Given the cost of building this and the high cost of rail travel in general is this new link going to be worth the time and money invested just to cut 1/2 hr of journey time between birmingham and london .Yes i know it will create jobs but could that money be used more wisely in other more meaningful infrastructure projects |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
I think building infrastructure is a good idea but I can't help thinking the final cost of this project will mushroom out of control and that because of that the price of using the service will be beyond most people's reach and require massive subsidies to make affordable. A sort of state owned Concord on tracks if you like but with relatively minor journey time savings.
|
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
As with all government projects the final figure will be think of a number and double it .My main concern is spending that kind of money on about 100miles of new track ,i just don't think it will be worth the saved 1/2 hr travel time |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
While I'd agree that a massive expansion of social housing would currently seem like a better use of resources to get the UK economy back into shape, we need to be thinking far more long-term.
In 20 or 30 years, when accessible petrol and diesel supplies have been exhausted and private car owners can't afford the rocketing price of hydrogen, perhaps our grandchildren will thank us for investing in extra train lines? |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
Sadly the project is already subject to a lot of typically British short-term ism, nimbyism and general whingeing. Frankly this is the sort of large-scale infrastructure project we should be pursuing to the greatest possible extent, now of all times. |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
I think we all agree the cost of this is going to be huge but unless it's affordable then it won't be fully utilised will it? It seems to me that the only option will be for the line to be subsidised in some way and that opens up all sorts of problems both with the taxpayer and the various other rail franchises which aren't subsidised but may suffer competitive disadvantage in one form or another. IMHO the railways should be state owned but even that's proved hugely troublesome in the past as we all know.
Set against a backdrop of already soaring rail fares, I can't see how the maths for this adds up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16390608 Quote:
|
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
No, there's been absolutely no persuasive evidence that this is worthwhile.
It'll be immensely expensive to travel on, a rich persons' railway paid for by every tax payer. It's the Tories' vanity project, nothing more. Far cheaper works would deliver results far quicker and with far higher value. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2#Journey_times |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
I don't use trains anymore so my views are that of a person looking from the outside .Regular comuters may of course feel totally different |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Last night on Iain Dales phone in show on LBC radio he was taking calls on this subject,a train driver who works on national rail phoned in he was saying he thought it wasteful to build this line,he was saying a lot of the current lines are in such a state of repair that there is a lot of speed restrictions over the current network being applied,for instance over many sections of lines trains go at 40-50 mph instead of the faster speeds they are capable of.
He suggested that the money be spent on the current network to allow trains to travel faster on the infrastructure we now have,instead of ripping up more countryside to build a line where possibly its not needed. His idea sounded good to me and as a driver he must have some idea. |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Sorry, that's like saying a bus driver should be the source of knowledge on national Motorway Infrastructure and traffic patterns and flows, imho.
|
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
|
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
Its is anknowledged that rail investment is not what it should be,by upgrading the current infrastructure it may be possible to shave 20 mins off the journey times now without the need for a posssible white elephant. Has a review been done to find out if upgrading of the current network would do the trick i wonder. Or is this a project to leave a "legacy" for the government minister concerned. |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
|
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
And yes it may be a line for the well off only to use at a high cost,but in order to shave just 20-30 mins off a journey that may well be possible with the money spent within the existing structure. |
Re: New high speed rail link ...is it worth it ?
Quote:
I would expect the train driver/bus driver to know the tactical impact of issues (slow trains, hold-ups and delays), but not the strategic reasons for them (major infrastructure refreshes required, the difference in costs between upgrading/making do/completely rebuilding), or the political, economic, and social impact of any of those options, and the prioritisation of those. It can often cost more to try and upgrade existing lines, with the impact on services whilst those upgrades are happening, than to build new. For instance, we just had to decide between refreshing/upgrading a 12 year old datacentre, or outsource, or build new (we actually built new, and it was cheaper than refreshing, without the risk of the centre upgrade negatively affecting existing systems and services - now we have implemented this, we can refresh the old one for Disaster Recovery). I see the HS2 as the equivalent of the Motorway system - most people said we didn't need it, but where would we be without it now? |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 05:35. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.