Sparky71 Posted February 11, 2020 Report Share Posted February 11, 2020 How will the new HS2 link to London actually benefit the average Warringtonian. My understanding is that if I wanted to use it to travel to London, I would have to drive or take a bus to a massive car park as yet to be built somewhere around Lowton, where I would catch the HS2 train at a new station. This would then get me to London in around 73 minutes. At present I can get a bus more or less to bank Quay station and be in London in 1 hour 50 minutes. So time wise, is it really an improvement for the average fella taking his missus for a few days in the capital? Cost wise, it will surely be more expensive, mainly to get the investment back but also because most of its users will be businessmen and probably not even paying for their tickets. There is also the cost of leaving the car at Lowton, overnight, probably similar costs to an airport stay. Can't see the attraction personally. Better to iron out any issues with the existing west coast main line. Are my understandings correct? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted February 12, 2020 Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 Been through London a few times on route to the south coast via train. The last time i went from bank quay to bournemouth for a training course. Cauht the train at nine am at warrington arrived at bournmouth at five pm and never left the train in between. stopped at just about every station and crossroads on the line between warrington and bournemouth. Only time i ever went into london for a visit it was shut. Desserted streets, like some kind of apocalyptic movie scene with bits of paper blowing around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 12, 2020 Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 It does seem a lot to pay out to cut a few minutes off the travel time. I get a bit of a feeling that we’re doing this partly because as a nation we want to be seen by the rest world as modern and progressive. Personally, I’d have liked to have seen something a bit more futuristic that got us to London in ten minutes, now that would really show the world something. The problem we have in Britain is that the place is so blooming small, so there’s never enough distance between the stops to really get your foot down. Just making the trains faster It’s rather like trying to use a Ferrari as a bus because no matter how fast you make it, it’s still going to spend most of its time slowing down and speeding up. In fact, if we could have come up with some way of getting people off while keeping the train running, we’d do the journey much faster than HS2 even if we kept to our current speeds. Enough dreaming for the day. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted February 12, 2020 Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 4 hours ago, Bill said: In fact, if we could have come up with some way of getting people off while keeping the train running, we’d do the journey much faster than HS2 even if we kept to our current speeds. just hang them out the window and tell them to start running when they are near the station...🤭 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted February 12, 2020 Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 The mail bag collection & delivery system worked well for the railways. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted February 14, 2020 Report Share Posted February 14, 2020 I just feel the massive investment could have been used in so many more ways that would benefit us all in the next few years not a pie in the sky concept due for completion long after I will have shuffled off this mortal coil. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 15, 2020 Report Share Posted February 15, 2020 I see the Chinese have offered to tender to take over the job and have it done in less than five years. As Mr Punch would say “That’s the way to do it” Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted February 16, 2020 Report Share Posted February 16, 2020 Well they built a hospital in a few weeks last month. Probably cut a few corners but at least it was fit for purpose. Why can't we learn from this ? Sometimes we must accept that a five year railway as opposed to a 25 year railway plan is just too good to refuse,despite it maybe being a bit less "polished" if it does the job I've no complaints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 16, 2020 Report Share Posted February 16, 2020 Latchford. Quote Why can't we learn from this ? Well according to the UK spokesperson, it’s the Chinese that need to learn from us on how to do things democratically, but they would say that wouldn’t they. How can we be globally competitive if everything we do here is wrapped up in so much red tape that it takes years of debate and consultations before anything gets started. Take Heathrow’s third runway as a classical example where they’ve been talking about it now for over 25 years and they’re still arguing now. Bill 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted February 16, 2020 Report Share Posted February 16, 2020 Maybe one day the penny will drop ... But I'm not holding my breath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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