Hs2 Or No Hs2

[Bazile]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49420332

From the link

//He said it was "responsible" to see whether the benefits really "stack up". //

Whether the benefits really "stack up". ? -We were told that this project was the best thing since slice bread

So after billions have been spent on this project - 'we' are now not sure it would produce the goods and all that tax payers money could go down the drain

[youngmafbog]

Well, thing change over time and myve someone told us some porkies or maybe just a mixture of things.

Whatever, why continue pouring money into it if nothing uselful is to come out of it, when at the bottom of a hole stop digging.

[brainiac]

Scrap it, and spend money on improving the existing lines. The reported £7 billion already spent on it is only half of what we give away every year in aid to other countries.

[douglas9401]

And they wonder why they get no respect.

Half thought out, open-ended budget pie in the sky garbage.

[ichkeria]

I hope this project is not canned but I fear the worst.
Tip of a very nasty iceberg

[youngmafbog]

Why would you not want a project that is soaking money with no real benefit shut down?

[brainiac]

Talk about a 'gravy train' ! The Chief Executive is on £750,000 and the Chairman £591,000, plus plenty of others with their snouts in the trough. Bin it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25905479

[Old_Geezer]

One assumes there is benefit or it't not got started on.

One needs to work out whether cost from here on, ignoring already spent monies, is worth the end result. But there's something very wrong about a project that apparently needs revisiting and checking every five minutes. The public deserves a definitive answer and the reasoning why.

[Old_Geezer]

It'd

[youngmafbog]

Ell my point is things change over time OG. So what might have been a good idea (and remember it was a much lower cost) at the time but not now.

The amount spent is small compared with the amount it will eventully cost.

[douglas9401]

See 'Edinburgh Tram'. A farce from start to present (not finished yet).

Politicians and their followers hate backing down on mental projects.

[Bazile]

The chairman of the high-speed railway project has written to the Department for Transport to warn that it cannot be completed for the original £55.7 billion budget, the Financial Times says.

The newspaper said Allan Cook, who is reviewing the project amid cost concerns, has predicted the final figure could end up being between £70 billion and £85 billion.

[ichkeria]

Sounds more like project “oh *** we need to save money” to me.
All the other grand schemes being proposed by the current PM are likely to go the same way.

[ichkeria]

The money saved from EU membership should pay for it in next to no time :-)
And they could even advertise the fact if they need to write something on the side of the trains ..

[Bazile]

A super massive black hole gobbling up folding for decades to come

[youngmafbog]

"Sounds more like project “oh *** we need to save money” to me."

Really? this project has been under the spotlight since inception. It is running massively over budget and will continue to do so. If you mean saving money that is wasted then a fiar comment I suppose. Is that what you mean?

[youngmafbog]

Exactly Baz.

[ichkeria]

In Dec 2017 the current PM claimed the UK would a actually be paying 440 million a week to the EU by the time of Brexit. That would be a saving of 22 billion a year.
Every little helps :-)

[ichkeria]

And of course it’s what’s known as an investment: one thing you couldn’t accuse the current PM of is not having a head full of grandiose schemes. That’s a rather unBritish thing, and while it did mean he blew millions on thin air while mayor of London, it presumably means he’s not blind to the long term benefits of things like HS2.

[Bazile]

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the costs to date

Is that accessible to Joe bloggs , anywhere ?

[ludwig]

Given that there's been so much disagreement about whether it's anything other than a hugely disruptive waste of time and money, I think it's reasonable that someone produces a proper cost\benefit analysis before any more gets spent.

It does rather look like they're hoping to find a reason to ditch it.