Should a high speed rail link be built to Scotland

[rov1200]

[craft1948]

Yes.......but there shouldn't be one coming out.........

[rov1200]

Lord Adonis the Transport minister thinks we should. The cost will run into £billions not to mention the disruption. To recoup the cost only the wealthy would be able to afford it. A caller said high speed trains are only capable of doing 22 miles/gallon/passenger (assuming a full train of 500 people).

The aim is to get the flyer use the rail instead.

Can this project be compared with the Concord for the selective few at the expense of the many?

[mushroom25]

French TGVs, if trains carry an average of 60% capacity, return a PMPG of 460. The figure of 22 for a modern train (actually a Virgin Pendolino) was quoted by then transport secretary Alistair Darling, who went on to say that 20 cars built today produce less emissions than one car built in 1980 - conveniently omitting to admit that the figures didn't include CO2!

If HS2 is built it should be routed London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh. This would increase the end to end journey time but it would still be quicker than today, and would make the line available to a much bigger market.

[VHG]

This was featured on the news a week or so back, and covered on Midlands Today with the Birmingham & Midlands aspect.

They said even if they got the go ahead they could not even start building it for 10 years, and who knows how long it would take to build.

It would also cost about 35 billion pounds (at todays prices), and these projects always cost more in the end.

Most of us will be dead before it is built (if ever)

[Lil O'lady]

Countries in Europe have been planning for this for decades before it was finally and gradually implemented, so on the basis of 'once begun...nearly done' it's agood idea. However it will then be put to several committees and think tanks who will spend the greater part of the next few decades enlisting consultants to tell them how to market it and producing fancy graphis - oh, and a logo, of course.
It will require new, stronger line beds to be laid, and in most of Britain this will impinge on space already built on or farmed. Future-proofing it agoanst flooding, paying for archaeological survey work, protection of sites of special architectural or scientific interest etc will all add to the cost. The super-fast trains also create a sound cone of penetrating noise that is very disturbing for miles around and the vibrations can shke buildings badly. All the more reason to start working out ifeasible solutions in practice right now.
You just know they'll make a ricket of it though don't you?

[rov1200]

Lil the noise problem won't go down well if the proposal is to cut across the pennines rather than the East and West lines. Strange really when the French trains seem almost silent.

[mushroom25]

hey Rov, if you believe French trains are quiet, you should try standing on the platform at the stations of Haut Picardie or Vendome-Aubervilliers, through which the TGVs pass at full speed.