That's going to be the epitapth of this wretched 'Tory' government, isn't it?
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last night said the costs of HS2 were 'getting totally out of control' as he refused to commit to building the Manchester leg. Proposals to make major cuts to the Government's flagship high-speed rail project would see the Birmingham to Manchester leg scrapped, despite £2.3billion having already been spent on it.
It should never have been started...
Mr Hunt told LBC last night: 'As Chancellor, you would expect me to be having discussions with the Prime Minister when major infrastructure projects over-run in their costs. And that's what we're facing with HS2.'
This hasn't exactly come out of the blue, has it? This bizarre white elephant has been overrunning cost-wise for years.
The planned railway – intended to link London, the Midlands and the North of England – has been plagued by delays and ballooning costs which have caused fissures in the Tory party. Various estimates have put the total cost of HS2 at more than £100billion, while the project has been rated 'unachievable' by the infrastructure watchdog.
It will go down in history as one of the biggest mistakes ever. Just like this government.
9 comments:
It will rarely be mentioned in a recounting of history as we now have so many other fiascos to mention. Covid, LGBT and Climate Change will be the most talked about as the refer to these times as the Age of Stupidity. HS2 will be one on a much larger list in the history books.
With the greatest respect, Julia, and agreeing with you, who would have done better? Labour? Limp Dums? SNP? Plaid Cymru? Tower Hamlets Parkies? Sad-dick Khant? De-banked Farage? Cressida Willy? Diane Flabbott & Jez Corbyn?
I'm not interested in "who would have done better".
I want to know why was it done at all? It was obviously a 'non-starter' from the feasibility stage.
Just who could HS2 benefit? Not me. I'm not involved in the engineering, and I don't want to take the train to Birmingham or Manchester. Why not?
I can drive to Birmingham far quicker than the train gets there, as I don't have to cross London. (I live outside the M25 SW of London). I'll still be able to beat HS2. I know, because I've done it, that I can get to Manchester about as quickly. And in both cases, lots cheaper, and be able to take my baggage with me - baggage that I can't lift all in one go.
If the money already spent on HS2 had been spent on the roads, I would have saved all that money on tyres shredded by potholes. If the money had been spent on the existing railways, some of the people killed might still be alive.
My view is to cancel the whole shebang today, take the hit and blame it on the party that started it..
We wasted £400 Billion on the covid farce. £100 Billion is about seven years of the foreign aid budget, at least with HS2 we will have something permanent to show for it. I would have tracked down the team who built HS1 on time and under budget and dragged them out of retirement to manage the construction costs. I would have built the connection to the North East as well, to level-up for London getting Crossrail.
I understand that HS2 was part of a grand scheme by the EUSSR to have a high speed train service taking someone (probably an EU panjandram) from southern Europe to northern Britain. Being, then, in the EU, the British puppet government readily approved it. It should have been cancelled the day after Brexit was announced.
Anyway, why does everyone mention Manchester when referring to the north. Burnham's fiefdom is North West. No mention of how the North East would benefit, though no one in Islington is concerned with that part of the country.
Penseivat (Hartlepool born and bred)
"It will rarely be mentioned in a recounting of history as we now have so many other fiascos to mention. "
Indeed so... :(
"...who would have done better? Labour? Limp Dums? SNP? "
Maybe, but...a slow poisoning is still a poisoning in the end.
"I'm not interested in "who would have done better".
I want to know why was it done at all?"
Good point! It must have benefitted someone, but just who is hard to fathom.
"I'll still be able to beat HS2. I know, because I've done it, that I can get to Manchester about as quickly. "
Exactly!
"I would have tracked down the team who built HS1 on time and under budget and dragged them out of retirement to manage the construction costs. "
If they wanted to, of course.
"Being, then, in the EU, the British puppet government readily approved it."
It's going to take decades before the effects of EU membership are fully understood, let alone reversed, isn't it?
Hi Julia
Funny you should say that, this was in the Inde today.
"The man who built the HS1 rail line has said he was denied a job on HS2 because he “lacked the qualifications and experience” despite delivering the project on time and under budget.
The former HS1, Crossrail and Eurostar boss, Rob Holden, said he applied to work on the high-speed rail project but was rejected by a “senior official” in the Department for Transport."
I also read that the project is festooned with diversity hires.
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