Latest Rail News

Chrism   02/08/2017 at 21:17

Well, well. So all the phase 1 civil works for phase 1 will cost in total £6.6 billion. All those tunnels and bridges, all those earthworks. And the section from Euston station throat to Old Oak is costing £740 million. Just a few weeks ago we heard Lord Berkeley and Michael Byng saying that it would cost £8 billion for that short 8.8km section. This shows that claim to have been utter rubbish! Even if fitting out the original railway costs an amazing half a billion, it will still only be £1.25 billion - plus the cost of the rebuilt Euston station.

Tim Price   03/08/2017 at 19:07

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the country major electrification projects are cancelled and we told "bi-modes will be fine".

Susheel Juneja   03/08/2017 at 19:33

a fantasy project to scam taxpayers of the UK. There are many if not 100's projects where cost benefit analysis far outweighs the scam that HS2.

Sue   03/08/2017 at 22:16

Only people going to benefit are the greasy palm brigade who have been given these lucrative contracts. Population ignored again as this is not needed or wanted, money better spent on the NHS which would benefit the whole of the nation not just the contractors and the few that could actually afford a ticket

Simon Eames1990   03/08/2017 at 22:50

HS2 will NOT boost the UK economy. HS2 will only benefit the wealthy. Numerous upgrades would've boosted the UK economy and created far more jobs than this ONE single colossal white elephant just to save journey by 20 mins! When HS2 is built I will not have a ride as the fares will be so expensive.

Melvyn   03/08/2017 at 23:25

We have now reached the reality of HS2 as contracts are signed for delivering HS2 the values of these contracts which show the actual costs of HS2 and not projections or fantasy figures quoted by opponents who seem to include projects not part of HS2 to arrive at their figures ! The costs of say tunnels for HS2 will be higher than the recently built Crossrail tunnels but HS2 will have bigger tunnels built to take larger gauge trains if these are used in the future. I visited Euston recently and slowly but surely site clearance is underway opposite the western end of the station with trial bore holes for soil samples being made.

Mark Hare   08/08/2017 at 12:25

People still saying that HS2 isn't necessary? really? @Simon Eames - Numerous upgrades would've boosted the UK economy? I guess it's escaped your notice that the WCML has been upgraded at a cost of £9bn and is already running at or near capacity? HS2 is NOT about 'reducing journey times by 20 minutes', clearly you have totally missed the point. We need HS2 and the sooner it is completed the better, to provide much-needed increased capacity on the north-south corridor and relieve pressure on the ECML and WCML.

John   27/08/2017 at 10:58

When HS2 was lazily designed, copying GreenGuage 21's strange proposal, they never bothered to inquire if Liverpool's rail demands would increase. They never knew about the proposed new Superport. Liverpool is the only deep water port on that coast. The new Liverpool in-river Superport container ships of 20,000 containers. The average size ocean going container ship is approx 5,000. One of these is the equiv of 5 average containers ships. The new berth can take two ships. It takes some shifting of 20,000 containers, never mind 40,000. Only rail can do that. The rail provision is woefully inadequate. The terminal currently can only deal with smaller ships because the transport infrastructure is not up to it. Few large ships will berth until the rail is uprated. Trade with North America is increasing and moreso with Brexit. Then there is also the NW Passage. The Chinese are building strong hulled ships to sail in convoy through the passage. Liverpool will be the natural port for these ships. On the announcement of HS2, the Port of Liverpool immediately complained that they need a dedicated HS2 line to Liverpool to alleviate the existing rail for freight and more provision must be made in existing lines. TfN have agreed with this and want a new high-speed HS3/NPR line to Liverpool. The port is within one hour of 60% of the UKs population. It is essential for industry that the city and port are served well with rail. The City of Liverpool contracted ResRepublica, a think tank, to present and lobby its case, offering £2 billion to connect the city to HS2. The rail provision to the port benefits the whole of the north of England and beyond giving cheaper and quicker transport of goods. All the councillors and MPs in the 'Liverpool City Region' should organise and be banging on desks in Whitehall. Even towns and cities should protest well away from the city, as they gain. ResRepublica said Liverpool should have been the first city on the list for HS2. Yet the city 30 miles down the road is having built for it free, a tunnel under Crewe station, a station that will be little used at Manchester airport, long lengths of curving HS2 track and a disproportionately expensive 7.5 mile 'branch' tunnel serving a 'terminal' station facing the wrong way. It is not as if Manchester is a Munich or Barcelona, it is not, it is far from a city of that status, equal to Liverpool and Leeds. None of HS2 makes sense. None of it. It does not serve all of the major cities that may need extra capacity.