HS2 link - is it worth the money?

Is the Government really committed to building this high speed rail link thing? I personally think this is going to be the Coalition's white elephant because of the reports this morning suggest that it is going to cost more than they think. Also I think why build this and waste public money which could have been used to improve schools and hospitals and of course the national debt!!
I get the feeling the fares on this new link will be so much higher than those of the normal railway that nobody will be able to afford to use it!! What do you guys think?

I don't think HS2 is worth the money. I fear that we are spending a large sum of public money creating a railway line that will have a marginal impact on the country's economic performance. I favour a good quality railway system (not the privatised mess that we have) but think that rather than going for 19thC technology we should have gone for high speed broadband across the country to allow people to telework and not commute (on often overcrowded trains). One of the positives of HS2 is that it will upset voters in Tory constituencies... still could always do some fracking in Whitney and other Tory constituencies!

yeah im the same saying it could cost up to 80 billion would be better spent on upgrading the internet and spending it on regeneration of the northern cities. only takes less than 3 hours to get from preston to london now using the virgin pendalino.

(18-08-2013 09:57 )Rees No.1 fan Wrote:  I don't think HS2 is worth the money. I fear that we are spending a large sum of public money creating a railway line that will have a marginal impact on the country's economic performance. I favour a good quality railway system (not the privatised mess that we have) but think that rather than going for 19thC technology we should have gone for high speed broadband across the country to allow people to telework and not commute (on often overcrowded trains). One of the positives of HS2 is that it will upset voters in Tory constituencies... still could always do some fracking in Whitney and other Tory constituencies!

And what do you feel about fracking?

You can start a poll if you want!

You have to view fracking in the wider context of energy policy and the likelihood that we are not going to have enough generating capacity to keep the lights on in a few years time. Fracking is given a lot of credit for lowering energy prices in the USA but that hasn't been without environmental issues which have largely been marginalised by large energy companies political lobbying.

In the UK context, I favour exploratory drilling for shale gas but it has got to be part of a wider energy policy that increases renewable outputs and lowers our demand for energy through greater efficiency. There is a great deal of talk about local communities receiving rewards for experiencing local blight in the national interest - I've no problems with that as long as decisions are taken by local people (rather than just be their locally elected representatives). What we currently have is a political hot potato given direct action by the local residents of leafy Balcombe and the gaffe by Lord Howell about fracking in the desolate north...

We face another serious energy crisis but a dash for shale gas isn't the entire answer to the problem.

not sure about fracking to be honest my town is right on the edge of the fylde coast drilling range so could be wells dug in local villages. it depends who does the drilling if its just american companies who have no bases here in the UK and just coming here for tax reasons which we will prob never see. if its Shell or BP then im more likely to be in favour because of there safety records in drilling in the north sea and they do pay a lot of UK taxes and employ a lot of uk staff

I think HS2 is a good thing, but like a lot of UK projects, it would have been better to start it when it first got on the drawing board ages ago, rather than a desperate punt during times of enormous debt.

The NIMBYs will probably delay it another decade or two. If people in affected areas need any Greens to come and kick up stink, we've got loads in the Lancaster area, and I personally would like to be shot of them.

I don't think HS2 is a good idea in the current economical climate. Money could be better spent on existing transport links and like HP said, on improvements to the internet-surely faster and better access to the internet would partially negate the need to physically move people to London on a daily commute.
Estimates of £80 billion costs at a time when the toffs in power are drastically cutting the basic benefits of sick, disabled, unemployed, vulnerable and disadvantaged people to pay for the costs from the bankers recession. Not everyone out there, out of work is a skiver. Tory heads should be held in shame when you see people in the UK having to rely on food parcels and God help many of us struggling to pay mortgages once they decide the time is right to increase interest rates!
As for fracking; I live a mile away from the fracking site in the Fylde. Have to say not seen any southern protesters around here doing their green stuff for a better world. I suppose they are quite happy as long as its in the 'desolate' north and not in their back yard. I trust that should oil and gas deposits be worth tapping, that any money made will be for the people of the 'desolate' north to spend and not simply a means to further line the pockets of those greedy southerners

An effective and ever improving transport infrastructure is critical towards our hope of competing internationally for jobs and inward investment by way of large corporates picking the UK as their venue of choice.

(19-08-2013 12:16 )sweetsugar007 Wrote:  An effective and ever improving transport infrastructure is critical towards our hope of competing internationally for jobs and inward investment by way of large corporates picking the UK as their venue of choice.

Then surely we'd be better off building another airport for London or adding more runways at Heathrow? Good trains are important but surely planes and high speed broadband are of greater importance for public investment?