Q2- apparently not, and it’s a very inefficient way of increasing capacity as it’s so piecemeal and difficult to do around the operational railway. A new route is better than trying to refine what we’ve got with its inherent constraints of being a 150 year old route through towns and existing railway infrastructure while keeping it open to trains. If you wanted to close the WCML it could be rebuilt to modern night speed standards, but you couldn't run trains on it. I think that one of the main arguments for the new route compared with improving the existing.
Tomorrow's announcements this evening (well they may be next week's announcements).
Ditch the Birmingham-Leeds link but add a Sheffield-Leeds special and Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway (is that Donington? "Parkway" describes "not in a town/city).
So that is a biit here, a bit there and nothing like a network.
(Inage by Jim Waterson)
Stephen
Democratic dissent is not disloyalty, it is a positive civic duty
I worked for a bespoke environmental consultancy until a few years ago and my swan song was to present evidence, alongside similar 'experts' at the Select Committee hearing into HS2 on behalf of a very well informed 'objector'. The Chair thought we presented the most comprehensive evidence around the environmental impacts of the project he'd heard. However, I distinctly recall that he said, at the very start of the session, that this (the Hearing) wasn't about whether it was going to be built (it was and clearly is) but that they needed to hear about those interested parties raising their concerns. That ranged from "Mrs Wiggins who would be able to see the trains from her bedroom window" through to large environmental groups wanting to preserve the Chilterns AONB rather than see large areas affected by landraising with excavated soils from the tunneling process.
Our 'carbon' expert even proved that the trains grossly exceeded the HS2 assessment on 'carbon used' versus travel miles and a rail expert proved that the Government aspiration of reaching 300kph was simply worthless - it would have to slow down before it could reach it due to the simple need to apply the brakes in time for those sections that it couldn't travel that fast. A bloody waste of money with the only exception of creating a lot of jobs in the construction industry for a relatively short period of time. And then the political carrot of balancing out the economy appears to be slipping away as well.
Q2- apparently not, and it’s a very inefficient way of increasing capacity as it’s so piecemeal and difficult to do around the operational railway. A new route is better than trying to refine what we’ve got with its inherent constraints of being a 150 year old route through towns and existing railway infrastructure while keeping it open to trains. If you wanted to close the WCML it could be rebuilt to modern night speed standards, but you couldn't run trains on it. I think that one of the main arguments for the new route compared with improving the existing.
Tomorrow's announcements this evening (well they may be next week's announcements).
Ditch the Birmingham-Leeds link but add a Sheffield-Leeds special and Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway (is that Donington? "Parkway" describes "not in a town/city).
So that is a biit here, a bit there and nothing like a network.
(Inage by Jim Waterson)
Stephen
Democratic dissent is not disloyalty, it is a positive civic duty
Stephen
Democratic dissent is not disloyalty, it is a positive civic duty
I worked for a bespoke environmental consultancy until a few years ago and my swan song was to present evidence, alongside similar 'experts' at the Select Committee hearing into HS2 on behalf of a very well informed 'objector'. The Chair thought we presented the most comprehensive evidence around the environmental impacts of the project he'd heard. However, I distinctly recall that he said, at the very start of the session, that this (the Hearing) wasn't about whether it was going to be built (it was and clearly is) but that they needed to hear about those interested parties raising their concerns. That ranged from "Mrs Wiggins who would be able to see the trains from her bedroom window" through to large environmental groups wanting to preserve the Chilterns AONB rather than see large areas affected by landraising with excavated soils from the tunneling process.
Our 'carbon' expert even proved that the trains grossly exceeded the HS2 assessment on 'carbon used' versus travel miles and a rail expert proved that the Government aspiration of reaching 300kph was simply worthless - it would have to slow down before it could reach it due to the simple need to apply the brakes in time for those sections that it couldn't travel that fast. A bloody waste of money with the only exception of creating a lot of jobs in the construction industry for a relatively short period of time. And then the political carrot of balancing out the economy appears to be slipping away as well.
Ho hum. Move along at the back....
"with the only exception of creating a lot of jobs..."
For retiring senior civil servants and politicians.
Alan
One for the grumpy ones who could not see the point of all that money being spent on railways.
The Standard One in six of all UK rail journeys are now made on the £20bn cross-London line
1.6K Roadsport SV