High Speed 2 Is Go.....

[mushroom25]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52293055

I'm an advocate of the extra capacity that HS2 would bring to the rail network; however now seems an odd time to press the "go" button.

with many people working from home, companies are actively re-assessing their working practices, staffing levels and premises provision for possible reorganisation and "right sizing" once a degree of normality returns. my company is one of these. once life begins to return to normal, it may well be a different normal that doesn't require staff to travel to offices, to meetings, etc.

it would probably have made better sense to wait and see what normal looks like later in the year; it may be that the case for extra capacity isn't there any more, n'est-ce-pas?

[shoota]

I agree with you 100% mushroom.

[shoota]

That level of expenditure would be best put to use elsewhere post Covid.

[Gromit]

Let’s not build any airplanes any more. And stop making cars. And stop building new roads. Because maybe, people won’t come out of their houses again.

Investment in infrastructure is a classic move during recessions, to create employment, and stimulate the economy.

[mushroom25]

// Investment in infrastructure is a classic move during recessions,//

it is, but circumstances change. the LTPB 5 year plan for the underground in the 1930s was a case in point. although a lot of it went ahead, many projects were deferred because of the war, and then abandoned after it because social changes post-war rendered them unnecessary.

[shoota]

How many apprenticeships could be supported with that money?

[ToraToraTora]

...how many jobs will going ahead provide? gromit is correct.

[royfromaus]

Will you be removing Gromit from your fantastic4 then, TTT?

[Cloverjo]

I was never a fan of HS2 BC, but it will keep people in jobs so carry on, I say.

[Gromit]

If we are going to cut infrastructure projects to save money, we could always not build the £38 Billion 3rd Heathrow runway. Obviously no one will want to fly anywhere after Corona.

[ToraToraTora]

roy, no he still has work to do!

[ToraToraTora]

I think the extra capacity is needed regardless.

[andy-hughes]

I have discussed this project with my brother-in-law who is a civil engineer and deals with this level of huge infrastructure.

He points out that, once embarked on, there comes a point where it is no longer financially viable to stop the project, it has to continue to fruition, and this is the case with HS2.

In addition, the initial cost forecast is known to treble at least, because of unforeseen circumstances that are revealed on an almost daily basis.

I never agreed with the principle of HS2, based purely on the fact that history shows us that successive governments have been unable to run a national railway system on anything like a successful and profitable basis for the past fifty years, and on that basis, why should any government be allowed to consider planning to build a new railway, given their lamentable failure to run the one they have now.

[mushroom25]

// Obviously no one will want to fly anywhere after Corona. //

that might well be due to practicalities - it is forecast that there will be few airlines left to provide a service.

[iluvmargie]

I am totally opposed to HS2, many people will lose homes and natural habitats will, once again, be destroyed. Wish it could be stopped.

[jno]

I don't think people will stop travelling, that's a genie that can't be put back in the bottle. I think they will be happy to do it by train instead of plane - there are hardly any London-Paris flights any more. And given the choice of driving between Birmingham and London and letting the train take the strain, is there any contest?

[gulliver1]

Gromit 13.17, is this the same Heathrow Runway concerning Boris and his "Ditch" ?,

[mushroom25]

// I don't think people will stop travelling, //

they may have no choice if companies withdraw corporate travel in favour of zoom technology. online conferencing is in the ascendancy now in the same way that fax machine use exploded during the postal strike of the mid 1980s.....

[jno]

not all travel is corporate, though.

[Gromit]

Video conferencing has been with us for at least 15 years. It will not replace the workplace when the lockdown is over.

Meanwhile, there is £6.1 Billion of new roads that the Government plan to build. Another potential cut and saving.

[mushroom25]

from a report in today's guardian:-

The end of business travel

Health fears initially made companies halt work trips; now it is an expense that struggling firms will likely shelve. Strickland says: “Some of those businesses will have disappeared, others have put travel bans in place, and all have discovered the joys of videoconferencing – the lucrative premium cabins on long-haul flights won’t be full for a while. Whether all this is a permanent structural change remains to be seen, but even it is not for ever, it will be a long recovery.”