why not, ...when great crested newts are gone there gone. trains and buildings can be replaced.I saw that, I wonder how much the cost has been raised by having to wait around for archaeologists et al to do their stuff.
I saw a report that in one quite short road widening scheme it had cost £35,000 each to observe and move six great crested newts a hundred yards to a different wet patch.
why not, ...when great crested newts are gone there gone. trains and buildings can be replaced.
Eric
If a hoard of bulldozers and men suddenly invade a site, then there may not be time for them to migrate, and they may well be just crushed out od existence.
Tis bad enough in man or woman,“A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.”
William Henry Davies.
No not at all the cost would be about 14 Billion if it got shut downSo they can save 5 billion
I agree with you totally, the gloom and doom that pervades on this site at times can be depressing. 'FORWARD' is the motto.Oh good heavens, there are so many 'backward lookers' on here. "Scrap it!" "Spend the money on existing lines!!" etc, etc. OK, scrap HS2. There aren't enough platforms at New Street for the existing traffic, so how can you get more in? Close Station Street, Stephenson Street and the nearest part of Navigation Street and get two, maybe three extra platforms. Demolish thousands of houses fields, woodlands and lay extra tracks between main towns. Local and freight trains already compete unsuccessfully with expresses for track useage of the existing network, how else can we have trains that will carry the capacity required without having to stand all the way? The great advantage of HS2 which everyone seems to ignore is the fact it will move the express traffic away from overcrowded lines, making room for more local trains (e.g. the reccommended Moseley and Kings Heath service as part of the 'cross city' network) not only on the track, but in the stations as well.
"... if you were to travel to Curzon Street by HS2 you will then have to walk into the City." Really? you mean there won't be connecting bus services, taxis, or the promised Metro extension? If you travel from Birmingham to Brighton, don't you still have to cross London from Euston to Victoria for the connection? Tell you what, lets go back to using steam engines - there's still plenty of coal under "this green and pleasant land", and look at the thousands of jobs it will make for the unemployed - while we're on about railways, ALL of Beeching's cuts should be reinstated, thousands of people complained about them at the time, more employment and more travel coverage accross the country to many little villages & hamlets the now have no public transport whatsoever. (Rant over!)
Concorde was a beautiful piece of technology and art. I doubt we could say the same of HS2.Whilst I agree to some extent it's not possible to restore all the lines closed by Beeching, many have been used for other purposes or built on for housing.
A few are still in use by the enthusiasts of steam but only because those running them are doing it for fun not for money.
On the subject of cost I recall the Concorde project, how many £billions would that equate to in today's money?
Was it a success? It was certainly, in the engineering and beauty stakes but commercially it had to be given away free gratis to the national airlines of Britain and France to get it in the air and selling tickets.
Concorde was a beautiful piece of technology and art. I doubt we could say the same of HS2.
A few are still in use by the enthusiasts of steam but only because those running them are doing it for fun not for money.
Not all tourist style lines are run by free labour volunteers. One of the most successful is in South Devon which has very few volunteers but hundreds of paid staff. In addition to steam trains there is fleet of boats, including a unique steam powered paddle steamer, and buses. The buses enable a round trip (slightly inland) to be achieved. I believe some of the closed lines will be restored to the national network, where possible, in the future. Some tourist lines may become shared with the national system in one way or another. That last comment is, of course a hot potato.
A lot make that mistake about the DSR. Its not purist enough for many.I stand corrected. I was always led to be believe that there was no volunteer input.
As for the South Devon, I will be down at Buckfastleigh next month to collect some fabrications.
Jim, I think you are on to something...………..That's what the airlines do and while its pretty bumpy (financially) it allows them to fill capacity.Long time in the future but I would expect business trips will be at premium rates but off peak will have to be pitched at cost prices with very little contribution to profit so that west coast routes can be slashed to free up capacity on conventional lines for local passengers.