HS2 - Cancel it now

DontLookBackInAnger said:
My issue with any removal of funding for projects like this is, because the nation is so Southeast centric all but the crumbs of any money saved will be gone from the north
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Infrastructure projects like this are largely paid for by the benefits they create. If the project is cancelled the future revenue streams don't materialise so there won't be any money to reallocate to other projects, transport or otherwise.

The HS2 business case predicted a benefit/cost ratio of 1.4:1.0. That is, benefits are expected to be 40% greater than costs over the appraisal period.

The 'selling' of the project to the country was mishandled I think. The main benefit that was emphasised was on increased speed/reduced journey times but in reality this only provides a small part of the net benefit. The main gain is the increase in capacity, for passenger and freight services.

Without HS2 we won't be able to run any extra trains on the WCML, especially at peak periods, which causes delays and overcrowding and means we cant divert more freight off the road. The cost of this affects the country as a whole and not just London/South East.

I don't think there is any chance that HS2A (to Birmingham) will be cancelled given that it is now being built but there could be a threat to HS2B which will extend north of Birmingham. The most severe capacity problems are on the HS2A bit, so if only this is the bit that is built then the largest share of the national gains are still available to be realised but the North will possibly miss out on its 'fair share' of potential gains.

In other words, the big risk to the North is HS2 only being part built.
 
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NeilYoungIsBack said:
Infrastructure projects like this are largely paid for by the benefits they create. If the project is cancelled the future revenue streams don't materialise so there won't be any money to reallocate to other projects, transport or otherwise.

The HS2 business case predicted a benefit/cost ratio of 1.4:1.0. That is, benefits are expected to be 40% greater than costs over the appraisal period.

The 'selling' of the project to the country was mishandled I think. The main benefit that was emphasised was on increased speed/reduced journey times but in reality this only provides a small part of the net benefit. The main gain is the increase in capacity, for passenger and freight services.

Without HS2 we won't be able to run any more trains on the WCML, especially at peak periods, which causes delays and overcrowding and means we cant divert more freight off the road. The cost of this affects the country as a whole and not just London/South East.

I don't think there is any chance that HS2A (to Birmingham) will be cancelled given that it is now being built but there could be a threat to HS2B which will extend north of Birmingham. The most severe capacity problems are on the HS2A bit, so if only this is the bit that is built then the largest share of the national gains are still available to be realised but the North will possibly miss out on its 'fair share' of potential gains.

In other words, the big risk to the North is HS2 only being part built.
Click to expand...

which has been the cynical view all along, they'll take it to Brum and fuck the North as they always do for rail infrastructure. If they were serious they could have done a whole heap of upgrades and broken ground whilst everyone was stuck at home in lockdown.
 
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