HS2 Approved - Great news for the North!

The Dreamer

Distinguished Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
5,181
Reaction score
10,489
Points
2,755
Location
Not where I want to be!
....only it doesn't get to the North!

When is Westminster going to realise that Newcastle is nearly 100 miles North of Leeds, likewise Sunderland, Carlisle, etc. And to get to Berwick upon Tweed, is another 60+ miles North again!

Basically, with all due respect to Leeds and Manchester etc. But they are not The North of England, there is quite a way to go before you reach The North!

...and then people wonder why the largest proportion of Brexit voters came from the North East - they feel ignored and maligned by Westminster; and the vanity project of HS2 simply re-affirms this - with The North of England, once again, being ignored by the politicians, who seem to think that The North goes as far as Yorkshire or Lancashire!

There are another two counties before you get to the Scottish border - and if HS2 was going to be done properly, it would have headed up to Glasgow and Edinburgh - not stopped in The Midlands!

[/rant]
 
....only it doesn't get to the North!

When is Westminster going to realise that Newcastle is nearly 100 miles North of Leeds, likewise Sunderland, Carlisle, etc. And to get to Berwick upon Tweed, is another 60+ miles North again!

Basically, with all due respect to Leeds and Manchester etc. But they are not The North of England, there is quite a way to go before you reach The North!

...and then people wonder why the largest proportion of Brexit voters came from the North East - they feel ignored and maligned by Westminster; and the vanity project of HS2 simply re-affirms this - with The North of England, once again, being ignored by the politicians, who seem to think that The North goes as far as Yorkshire or Lancashire!

There are another two counties before you get to the Scottish border - and if HS2 was going to be done properly, it would have headed up to Glasgow and Edinburgh - not stopped in The Midlands!

[/rant]

vic-and-bob.jpg
 
There was a documentary some months ago about the company or government department set up to buy the properties etc that the HS2 will need in order to build the track and it was/is an absolute shambles with quite a bit of shenanigans going on if the reporter was to be believed.
Who is going to be able to afford use this train?
 
Looking at the proposed route linked below, the actual new railways will just link to existing infrastructure in order to provide travel to the north.
 
£106bn will buy you:
300bn Cadbury’s Creme Eggs
2,718 tonnes of gold bullion
385 Star Wars spin-offs
290 Arron Banks's
140 new high-tech hospitals
71 Burj Khalifas
4 Apollo programs
1 train that’s 20 minutes quicker getting to London
 
Last edited:
Before reading this I never knew the North East existed.


























ps Only joking @The Dreamer
I've enjoyed staying in the Little Haven Hotel, the nightlife, the Greggs and the tour of the industry the area has to offer.
High speed line would see me and the OH visiting more than once in a blue moon :)

Views from my room and the around the city


20130918_082403.jpg 20130918_082413.jpg 20130918_082828.jpg
20130917_163449.jpg Newcastle Lighthouse.jpg 20130917_151009.jpg 20130917_181818.jpg 20130918_131607.jpg 20130918_133719.jpg
 
Isn't this a case of us only thinking of things happening in our own lifetimes?
I've never looked into benefits/drawbacks of HS2, but on the basis it provides a transport link that pretty much covers the length of the country, does that not aid future generations?

It's going to cost a hell of a lot of money, and by the looks of it cause major disruption up and down the country, but is that a small price to pay to open up England/Scotland, for the next generation and the next etc...?

Are people against the actual idea of HS2, or is it just the way its all been handled?
 
And what about sideways movement (East to west) for the people already there.
 
Original cost:
£33, billion.
Then
£56, billion,
Then.
£88, billion,
Now estimated at,
£106, billion.
Final price?
 
It doesn't though. That's (one of) the thing.
If you look at the link I posted earlier, it does. The new infrastructure will link into existing railways that go north to Newcastle and Scotland.
 
It's a big infrastructure project which puts me in a doubtful mood. It costs an eye-watering amount of money, but is it really to 'level up' the North?

Given the time needed to complete the line, it needs to be backed up over the next 10+years with support and incentives for businesses to expand, move, and/or start outside of London.

If not, then it'll all come back to the same old tactic: expanding London's reach ever further.

....only it doesn't get to the North!

When is Westminster going to realise that Newcastle is nearly 100 miles North of Leeds, likewise Sunderland, Carlisle, etc. And to get to Berwick upon Tweed, is another 60+ miles North again!

Basically, with all due respect to Leeds and Manchester etc. But they are not The North of England, there is quite a way to go before you reach The North!

You're not thinking like the Westminster bubble :smashin:.
 
Once it gets to Leeds/Manchester it could be extended further north in the future.
C'mon, we ALL know what's going to happen once/if they reach Leeds/Manchester :laugh:
 
Last edited:
If you look at the link I posted earlier, it does. The new infrastructure will link into existing railways that go north to Newcastle and Scotland.
So all they really need is the new trains & a little bit of track works for the North? Why not do the North first then and improve badly needed transport links for the North first?
 
TBH......i thought it was approved years ago!!! :eek:

So what has been happening for the last what 5? 6? 7? years?

Edit; initially started by Labour in 2009!! Double :eek:
 
TBH......i thought it was approved years ago!!! :eek:

So what has been happening for the last what 5? 6? 7? years?
It had, but once the cost ballooned from £33bn to £103bn they looked at it again.
 
£106bn will buy you:
300bn Cadbury’s Creme Eggs
2,718 tonnes of gold bullion
385 Star Wars spin-offs
290 Arron Banks's
140 new high-tech hospitals
71 Burj Khalifas
4 Apollo programs
1 train that’s 20 minutes quicker getting to London

Question about the Creme Eggs - is that based on RRP or when they are on special offer in Tesco? And is it based on buying them one at a time or in the value boxes of six or twelve? Important questions because I think Creme Eggs is the way to go.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
The BBC's News Channel is fully behind it as so far in the past half hour they have had three 'experts' extolling the virtue of the forthcoming announcement from Boris of the HS2 continued support.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom