HS2 has ruined my chances of owning a house

neilio

What utter nonsense, comparing how the Chinese build a railway to how we do it here. I'd much rather the plans be scrutinised, the public be consulted, the environmental impacts be assessed and mitigated, community engagement schemes be set up, and an assessment and desire to realise the core and wider benefits happens, instead of forcibly removing people out of their homes and charge through the landscape without a care in the world. I know people are unhappy about HS2 but can you imagine how even more unhappy you'd be if you were treated how the Chinese treat their own?

isplumm

zagubov wrote: »

Why's it that expensive? :eek:

We could build a ladder to Mars for that and still have change!

because we build a lot in tunnels, don't use cheap labour & also pay compensation.

Mark

kabayiri

isplumm wrote: »

Why would he look at HS2? The Chinese are so far ahead of us in that game!

Mark

I'd wager that the 'game' by 2030 will involve mass self drive vehicles, either electric or hybrid.

A road network operating as a collective, could shift many more people than a single railway line.

Then, we would also have to look at why we would need to do as much physical commuting by 2030.

By the time HS2 comes into operation, it could be obsolete.

GDB2222

kabayiri wrote: »

I'd wager that the 'game' by 2030 will involve mass self drive vehicles, either electric or hybrid.

A road network operating as a collective, could shift many more people than a single railway line.

Then, we would also have to look at why we would need to do as much physical commuting by 2030.

By the time HS2 comes into operation, it could be obsolete.

If you have self-drives, all cooperating, they could form themselves into trains on the motorway. This would greatly reduce power consumption, through reduced drag. At the same time, through eliminating gaps between the vehicles, traffic density could be much higher. So, existing motorways could cope with far more vehicles.

ruperts

always_sunny wrote: »

is it? Doesn't the UK spend twice as much a year on pensions?

Probably but it's not the spending of the money that bothers me. Our transport network is one of the worst of the so called 'rich' countries and is a lot worse than many 'developing' countries so I'm all for the investment being made. I just don't think such a large amount of money should be poured into one rail line that will benefit maybe a few thouand people when the money could instead be spent on thousands of miles of good a-road which would benefit tens of millions of people. Basic cost benefit analysis.

Pennywise

GDB2222 wrote: »

If you have self-drives, all cooperating, they could form themselves into trains on the motorway. This would greatly reduce power consumption, through reduced drag. At the same time, through eliminating gaps between the vehicles, traffic density could be much higher. So, existing motorways could cope with far more vehicles.

Whilst I agree, exactly the same could be said of the railways.

They are still controlled via an antiquated "block" signalling system meaning there are huge "gaps" between trains. If you got the trains "talking" to each other electronically and controlled remotely, you could double or treble the number of trains on the lines which would remove the need for HS2.

At the moment, the train ahead has to be a long way ahead to allow for thinking/braking time of the train behind - if they were electronically linked, you could have them far closer, so that the moment the train in front starts to slow down, the one behind brakes too, maintaining the safe distance apart.

We also already have Pendolino's on the west coast main line that can't travel at their maximum speed, simply because they can't stop in time due to the historical/ancient block signalling system.

So, why not spend a fraction of that £60bllion or whatever it will inevitably rise to over that, on sorting out the existing system and modernising it so we can have faster and more frequent trains on the existing lines.

Rich2808

HS2 wont be built for years - if ever.

I doubt it will make much difference in the short term - why would anyone want to spend the equivalent of a flight to New York to save 15 minutes from Sheffield to London.

elantan

re14796 wrote: »

I have previously posted about why are housing prices in the north are so much cheaper than the south. My plan was to move up north. I have contacted estate agents who are based in the cities where HS2 will be traveling to and all the estate agents have said housing prices will rise greatly because of HS2. Therefore the north will be like the south, where housing is unattainable for most of the population.

North ? It's stop 150 miles from the Scottish border ... never mind the highlands ... it's more middleish