I agree I'm buggered by the infrequency early in the morning and in the early evening. I have to commute to Meadowhall or Wakefield or both and then struggle from there to Pontefract. It doesn't help that the 7:31 was replaced by the Grand Central from Kirkgate which runs later.
You've made this claim before - it wasn't true then and it isn't true now! I'd encourage everybody to just head to the .gov HS2 website and sort the documents by oldest to newest. I've checked the two oldest (from 2011) and both of them are concerned first and foremost with capacity, with speed being treated as an extra. Network Rail's response to High Speed 2's initial findings was literally called "Meeting the capacity challenge: the case for new lines" (which I've just discovered while hunting for the name of a document, but I think demonstrates the point nicely!). Now It may be true that High Speed 2 and/or the government wanted to push the speed aspect of it because they thought that it would be more popular with the general public than the admittedly more dry-sounding capacity benefits, but it's never been true that speed was the answer to any of the real issues HS2 was tasked with solving.
I've sat in meetings with MP's, Govt Ministers and senior civil servants from the DfT ( including Chris Grayling's senior Dft advisor) under Chatham House rules and I can tell you for a fact that they lie.The speed aspect was pushed in every single presentation . Often listening to power point presentations lasting hours.
An analyst I worked with worked on the HS2 project, and when I asked him in a casual chat to explain why it was necessary, he spent an hour very animatedly explaining all the issues, and never once mentioned ‘getting to London quicker’. But I know from my own experience that if a politician is given a bunch of facts, it’s amazing how often they’ll pick the wrong story to run with. Usually looking for a populist spin, but never quite managing to land it.
Of course they do! That's why I prefer to get my information, as far as possible, from the analysts and transport planners and engineers who actually devise and design and build these things...
It's such a shame that the Woodhead line has probably become unusable to connect Yorkshire and Lancashire again. The tunnels are still there but used by electricity companies, I believe. If ever there was a perfect opportunity to reopen the line to take the pressure off the roads, M62, Woodhead and the Snake, then this would be it. It certainly wouldn't cost the billions of HS2 money but would serve a great purpose passenger and freight wise.
There are several depots near us, one near Lichfield and one at East Midlands Airport which are massive developments, what are they going to do with them? On the other hand, huge swathes of countryside which would have been lost forever will thankfully be saved. Another example of the "magic money tree" that the Tory austerity acolytes told us didn't exist. Now we know for sure that it does so what will be their excuse for not implementing a truly fair society?
The problem is Sestren ( with all due respect) is that any figures or words from Hs2 Ltd must be treated with the utmost caution...as an example We have an estate that was newly built in 2011/12 ( actually not completed yet) A viaduct of over 18m in height cuts through the estate carrying the line...Hs2 senior engineers told us verbally that virually the whole estate of 212 homes would have to come down, (possibly a corner of the estate might be untouched) not only due to the line itself but the large earthmoving equipment needed to build the viaduct supports and ancillaries including new roads in at both ends... Hs2 Chair Sir David Higgins told a select Cttee that 16 homes would be demolished...I called him a liar in the press and waited for Hs2's threatening letter ( which never came) ...Higgins later upped it to 28 demolitions...then 56, the last figure was in the high 70's, then he left the company. Likewise figures from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership...who like to present 'independent' reports on Hs2...NPP is staffed and funded by Atkins, Siemens, Mott McDonald etc, plus many others with their snouts either in or on the edge of the trough.
Those are ours/ joint alliance sites. They are linked to the current phase that has already been approved and is in motion. It’s the next phase that could will be cancelled. For context the sites we are setting up are expected to be there 5 years as a minimum.
Exactly. Some of us think of the houses we live in as our homes not an investment property. I don't care if my house doesn't go up in value if it means that there is a chance to buy affordable housing for my kids. As for HS2, I'm hoping that driverless cars will reduce traffic on the roads as in you don't need to own a car as such, just book one for the times you need it
You don’t really need driverless tech to do short term flexible car hire, you just need enough people who want to use it. And for now; there’s not much public appetite, as with housing, we’ve got sucked into a car as a lifestyle choice, with branding to suit. We’re throwing billions of wasted ££s at a car industry that we could easily design out of our lives, but it’s a matter of finding the will to do it. When I was a kid, buses were cheap, and hardly anyone had a car, because we didn’t need one. We’ve now got 2 cars on the drive and we’re working from home. We’ve gotta keep the cars, cos we know this is a temporary situation. But I can honestly see a future where we have one car and a decent % of our journeys will be me dropping off the wife at a train station or picking her up.
I had a discussion just this weekend about driverless cars. My car has a few things on it which for my mind make it too clever for its own good. Lane assist and the like. The previous weekend we went to a few National trust places in Kent/Sussex. On the way back, on country roads, there were a couple of cyclists. I pulled over to overtake and my car realised i wasn't in my original lane and tried to correct it back. As it did so, it must have detected it was close to the cyclist, beeped loudly at me and started to do a harsh brake all on its own. There was nothing dangerous or excessive about the manoeuvre I made. Nothing coming the other way, gave lots of distance for the cyclist only for my car to have any absolute jiddy fit that could have endangered the cyclist, and those in my vehicle (namely me and the missus). I just wouldn't trust a vehicle anytime soon to have the actual intelligence to understand decades of driving and real life situations. It may come at some stage, but hopefully after my life time.
Streetcar and now zipcar have been operating in London for over a decade and it has pretty good take up and a lot of locations. I used it for about 2-3 years and it worked well until they changed the pricing structure and allowances. I'd guess there are about a dozen vehicles nearby within a 10 minute walk.
Just typed a 500 word reply. Will condense it to one sentence, which even consumerist, 3 car families ask. ‘Where have all the butterflies & bees gone?’
