General Chat

Did I hear the news right?

They are thinking of scrapping this.

I often go to Sheffield by train :-( but it is usually better than the motorway. Of course Brum is not in the north but the West Midlands.
If a northern rail network is to work and make economic sense than it must include Birmingham New Street. The current focus on to/from London is all wrong.

Re what constitutes "North". I'm having a little smile to myself, as I do every time my SIL says they are having to go "up North" but that she would never go back to living there, too cold, too wet etc ( though she was born there as was I) but by North she means Cheshire. I live in the Midlands and would go up north( at least as far as Cheshire ;-) ) in a heartbeat.

B'ham is not north, Kathleen is correct - it's Midlands BUT many south of Watford don't know that.

I lived in the Medway Towns and know that I was called a Northerner for having been born near B'ham. :-0

Going north to south is much easier in UK than east to west so that is what needs sorting. Updating existing track etc. also needs doing and a general upgrade of stock and stations.

I certainly agree that Birmingham (at least to me) is NOT north. From where I am in Teesside it is a very long way south.

Although I'd like to see better trains and rail links up here I think the amounts of money it will take to complete that are being bandied around could be spent on better things. I just feel sorry for those people who have already lost their homes because of compulsory purchasing and it will all have been for nothing when they decide to either stop the plans altogether or curtail them.

Kath. x

Yep, agreeing with Von, Sue, Rollo and hence Joy Louise. Actually I have not ever seen any 'normal' person agree with the idea.

Von, Sue and Rollo - well said. I agree with you entirely.

Our Dtr travels less but takes part in a lot more video conferencing than she did five years ago.

The project should be cancelled forthwith, Given that it is way unpopular with most Tories - esp those who voted for BoJo - its chances must be slim. At least two of the panel are dead against it.

If other major civil engineering projects are anything to go by costs will just go on increasing until the Treasury breaks. Hinckley Point on its own will force the UK to pay way well over the odds for power.

The 1st stage does not go from London to Birmingham. It goes from Old Oak Common ( the old GWR depot) to Aston. Bang goes the time saving. Top speeds have already been reduced in order to save money.

Large numbers of people using the existing B'hm - Coventry - Rugby - London rail service will have longer journey times.

As has been said faster trains into London just incorporate provincial cities into the commuter belt eg Nottingham.

Instead the (current) budget should be used to create a real railway network in the north based on the Brum - Manchester - Leeds axis with Sheffield, York, Hull, Teeside and Newcastle added in.

The TGV has never caught on in France - few stops, high fares. It leaches money out of the French govt and as a result the normal railway that working people use is in a dreadful state.

At some point in the near future "business meetings" with briefcases and a sharp suit will disappear. Instead life size 3D screens & ultra high speed internet will render HS2 obsolete. That could happen before construction is complete.

When May came to power I hoped she would cancel LHR extension, HS2 and Hinckley Point. All three black holes are alive, well and expanding. Yet we cannot fix housing, hospitals, prisons, schools while serious road accidents and deaths due to dangerous roads go on rising.

next: Thames estuary airport, lying in front of bulldozers

Just to knock off 10 minutes off the journey time from Leeds,It ain't worth all the hassle that it is causing and at around 100 billion a bit of a white elephant.
:-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

The sooner it gets scrapped the better. The devastation around us is horrendous not to mention all those who have been evicted without a penny of compensation being paid yet.

Rose you are correct if it goes ahead people will live in Birmingham and travel to London to work - those that can afford the fares that is.

Better to spend the money on rail lines in the north and a fast train to the West Country.
:-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|
Am I angry - you bet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joy I and others wish so :-D

I bet you think she only looks after herself? :-D

Would you liked her sacked, Emma?

Did I hear you utter 'If only ...?' :-D

Joy we will have to agree to disagree on that one :-)

Not snubbing the Scots but Wossername looks after you. :-D

Perhaps we, in the north, should feel a bit more alive now that the WMinster bods have stretched their northern boundary a little further than Watford Gap?

The downside is that the M62 corridor is not true north and I am sure that Kathleen, at least, will agree with me. :-D

There's a whole lot of life before you reach the Scottish border. :-D

London to Manchester will be a straight through train not stopping at B'ham at that speed Rambling.

London to B'ham may only be a 1 stop, used to be either Rugby or Coventry could also include B'ham International for the airport.

There are alterations going on just outside New Street, I saw them travelling from Walsall - New St in May.

Emma about 35 minutes according to a little table on the Mail, but the promise that it will bring industry and money to Birmingham seems less likely to me than that it will mean more people going the other way to work?

That table seems a little out to me, first glance?

London to Birm' 49 mins
Birm to Manchester 41 mins

But London to Manchester 1hr 8 mins

?

I think it is a complete waste of money and a dreadful disregard for people living in its path.

For some pet causes there seems to be money to burn.

I agree with Kathleen. Services in that part of the north that some mistake for being in Scotland need to be improved.

TBH I think there are more deserving projects. Also the estimated cost is NEVER achieved but always increases by a factor of x

It's further north that we want to see it coming although I doubt very much whether this will ever be delivered - and the final costs don't bear thinking about.

Kath. x