BoJo: HS2 is perverse

laresSun 03/07/11 17:53

"Mayor of London Boris Johnson has criticised plans for the HS2 high-speed rail link in a letter to a campaigner. The proposed line would link London with Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. But Mr Johnson wants any track through London to go in tunnels.

He also claimed the line would double the number of passengers at Euston Station - and said the government would need to increase Tube capacity. Number 10 has repeatedly said it backs the scheme.

The first phase of HS2 would link London and Birmingham, cutting rail journey times between the two cities. Last week Prime Minister David Cameron told an audience in Birmingham: "The government is committed to HS2."

But the mayor wrote in his letter to anti-HS2 campaigner Jerry Marshall: "While I have expressed support for a high speed rail network in the past my support is conditional on a number of specific criteria and on the need to make the new railway work well for London."

http://1sq.me/j76fGd

gromitSun 03/07/11 17:59

I think the problem with large scale engineering projects such as HS2 and why so few of them ever get started let alone completed is that almost everyone agrees on the principle and almost no-one can agree on the practice. This is a shame in regards to HS2 as it would be of significant benefit to the nation.

laresSun 03/07/11 18:08

quoting > "This is a shame in regards to HS2 as it would be of significant benefit to the nation."

I'm honestly not sure. All things being equal then high speed is better than "classic", but I'm not convinced that this is money well spent when the network is so over (and likely to get worse) capacity.

gromitSun 03/07/11 18:14

I thought the point was to add capacity to the rail network.

laresSun 03/07/11 18:16

quoting > "I thought the point was to add capacity to the rail network."

Wouldn't it make more sense to add to the classic network at far lower cost?

I'm not sure. It seems the main reason to have this is so we can say we have a high speed network like Spain.

philc777Sun 03/07/11 18:18

Well given that BoJo's contribution to trasport so far has been to waste vast quantities of money messing about wth the London Congestion limits, and to waste vast quantities of money on designing a new bus which is never going to go into widespread use..

I think that means HS2 must be a winner!

gromitSun 03/07/11 18:20

quoting > "Wouldn't it make more sense to add to the classic network at far lower cost?"

Possibly, but there are potential regeneration benefits you can leverage off of a high speed rail network. If some of the northern reaches are closer in time then it makes the economics of locating outwith London better.

laresSun 03/07/11 18:22

quoting > "Possibly, but there are potential regeneration benefits you can leverage off of a high speed rail network. If some of the northern reaches are closer in time then it makes the economics of locating outwith London better."

I genuinely have mixed feelings. Do we want to make London more reachable? We're already having this ding-dong between Ministries about Housing Benefit cuts and the fact jobs are only in London... now we're thinking of doing something that makes people able to commute to Birmingham?

laresSun 03/07/11 18:23

quoting > "Well given that BoJo's contribution to trasport so far has been to waste vast quantities of money messing about wth the London Congestion limits, and to waste vast quantities of money on designing a new bus which is never going to go into widespread use.."

I'm still waiting for the Island Airport to replace Heathrow...