Wednesday 11 January 2012

The curse of something must be done

or in this case HS2 - a new railway to Birmingham.

I mean, really, Birmingham. I have been to Birmingham, its um, OK. It is not the heart of British Industry and commerce that it once was. It is a City of less than a million people. In China, it would barely make the map and would not be even in the top 100.

So to spend at least £16 billion (and possibly double given the way these projects go) to reduce the journey time by 30% in 13 years time - seems, well, over-egging it a bit. This is not the stuff of Brunel's dreams is it?

Sure one day oil is going to be dreadfully expensive and flights costly and we will be glad of a rail network  - but this is perhaps over a decade away - especially if we use shale resources properly. It maybe a century.

So where is our new airport to meet the needs of our growing export business and world interconnectedness. Where is the remedy to London's failed mass transit infrastructure? Heaven forfend that 90% of UK journeys are by road (and that road tax / fuel duty pays the transport budget several times over) that we may see some new motorways or A roads upgraded to meet actual demand.

None of this really matters, something must be done about UK infrastructure investment and this is a something. Better still it is not a controversial nuclear plant - the people it upsets are Tories in the shires whom the Government can afford to upset given their political position - in fact it probably even helps.All of the above investment proposals are either politically challenging or lack in vote winning appeal. Birmingham is, of course, full of marginal constituencies.

Here is a big project, lasting forever (i.e. more than one term in Government) that will employ the Polish migrants so short of work today. So let's do it.

24 comments:

Budgie said...

HS2 is a typical politicians vanity wheeze. ID cards, NHS computerisation anyone?

What we really need is a general refurbishment of our roads, and some essential projects such as a motorway link from Sheffield to Manchester.

Anonymous said...

HS2 is nothing to do with anything the UK requires for its economic performance.

It is everything to do with the EU intergrated transport policy.

Next - Alex Salmond lobbying for it to be extended North of the Border.

Demetrius said...

My July 1922 Bradshaw offers a number of ways of getting from London to Brum, some more scenic than others. There are still such options which could be improved by a number of minor works to achieve nearly the same result. Actually, the line will run from Acton to Bordesley to be precise which both will add time getting to and from the stations involved. If you know your rail system try going from the disused Eurostar platforms at Waterloo to Brum by means of new fast trains and a small number of track layout adjustments and improvments.

andrew said...

Whatever happened to the severn barrage - green energy - nice new boating lake - lots of jobs

On a more serious note, the line is planned to extend to Manchester / Leeds eventually (but not Scotland)

Bill Quango MP said...

I'm still waiting for the district line extension past Wimbledon to Surbiton.

Electro-Kevin said...

This does not connect well with incoming Eurostar services. A walk up the road to Euston is required.

A politician stated today "This is our generation's opportunity to bequeath something to the next."

Yes. An enormous amount of debt.

Steve said...

from Heathrow to Gatwick is 24miles as the crow flies. A 30mile train link in a tunnel the whole way if you like could perhaps deliver a 10 minute journey, and effectively the two airports become one massive hub (direct baggage transfer of course, so bags are checked through). That would seem to be a much better project.

Spend some of the rest of the money linmking the north not just to the south, but to the entire world via broadband.

Anonymous said...

One more terrific wheeze for the politicos to glorify themselves, £32 Billion, say that really fast off the tongue,looks nice, spread over £10 or more years, a big project that the government gets involved in double it, examples quoted above or even triple it, they could even use the National Lottery to top it up, Olympics anyone. If big business wants wants it so much let them pay for it and do it themselves, any offers? The time gained will be minimal a case of deminishing returns, the motor ways were a good idea at the time (Mr Marples had some connection to a construction firm I believe) but what happens when you get near large towns or cities, you come to a grinding halt and grid lock, its annoying to queue for an age and when you get to the junction nothing there

James Higham said...

I mean, really, Birmingham. I have been to Birmingham, its um, OK. It is not the heart of British Industry and commerce that it once was.

And that's why you're the diplomat and I'm not.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully when the true multi-£B overruns on the Olympics boondoggle are exposed, we'll realise that Broken Britain can't afford this ludicrous scheme.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully when the true multi-£B overruns on the Olympics boondoggle are exposed, we'll realise that Broken Britain can't afford this ludicrous scheme.

Anonymous said...

'fink big'. I'm guessing all commentators so far, if alive 200 years ago, would be smashing up the mechanized looms. ??

It was only a few years later the Victorians started building the current rail infrastructure. There was opposition to that also...

Come on.... get it together, look lively, this a major opportunity. You lot are getting very, er erhmm, negative....>>

Anonymous said...

Anon: " get it together, look lively, this a major opportunity. You lot are getting very, er erhmm, negative..."

Why are they using two hundred year old technology.

Couldn't they at least build a MagLev transport system,

It would be electric everyone knows electric means you don't have to burn any fuel to power the thing!

That would make it 'way green'.

suffragent said...

what? spend money on infrastructure outside London? All that money when we need it for front line services like aromatherapy outreach workers. They must be socialists.I've been reading this site for a few years and I usually agree with you guys on most things but not this.True it shouldn't cost that much. All government need do is free up the land and get the hell out the way (the same with the housing shortage) and if the local councils want to get involved,in there many roles, all the better "yes officer I see you already have the high vis jacket, hard hat and safety glasses, now heres a shovel". The towns and cities outside London have been decimated over the last 30 years feeding the city with stuff to sell to make next quarters profit. If we're going to p1ss money away on anything I'd rather it was on infrastructure. I know theres' bad examples, such as Germany who could have been an industrial giant if it hadn't blown all it's cash on toy trains.
Yes the broadband link to the North would be great. We could download YouTube videos of southerners flying off on holiday. As everybody knows all men from the North would rather be unemployed, sitting at home playing online video games, rather than building something as stupid as a transport link.

rwendland said...

It's Birmingham to London not especially because of the particular merits of Birmingham, but because it is the London-Birmingham stretch of track that is close to max capacity, and projected to fill completely. So in a way, something does have to be done - drive traffic away with higher prices, or build something even if not HS2.

Anyway, Birmingham is not the whole conurbation, unlike London. West Midlands conurbation is over 2.5 million. You could equally (sort-of) say the City of London population is only 12,000 so does not even merit a stop on Crossrail!

ivan said...

As Anonymous at 8:33 pm said why use countryside destroying Victorian methods when we could use an elevated MagLev system for much less outlay - track sections and supports made in factories, no pounding the ground and with such a system it would be faster as well.

Timbo614 said...

Trains are so last millennium. If they had any foresight at all, what they would be building is a computerised "Auto drive" motorway.

If the demand is there then regular route users would invest in the "auto drive option pack" for their car that would be needed to use it.

If you don't have an auto drive car then you rent one at the start point of your journey. Such a system would get you exactly where you need to get to!

We almost have auto drive now and such a scheme would encourage investment in perfecting the technology.

Anonymous said...

rwendland: "Birmingham stretch of track that is close to max capacity, and projected to fill completely .."

Now I wonder who might be responsible for that, after sixty years of government ownership of the track and I recall much lifting of tracks bringing four lines down to two on the intercity links ....

That would be the same government that ran the railways into the ground during the war and cut back on the investment after the war.

CityUnslicker said...

Great comments all - to reply to anon who says they disgree - well good. Full agreemtn is almost always the sign of people being wrong on the whole.

I am fully behind long-term infrastructure investment and helping the economy outside of the south-east thrive. But roads provide most of the travel needs and airports connect us to foreign market better. the cost/benefit for this decision is terrible.

GSD said...

To be fair, Birmingham is England's #1 pop area outside the m25 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_districts_by_population), so if you're going to put a h2s link in anywhere, its the place to aim for.

However, I can't help but think this is a vanity project - a mass transit system for Brum would be much more useful for the locals. For the uk as a whole, Boris' Island, setting up for shale gas extraction or the Severn Barrage would all be better bets.

dearieme said...

Why don't they just extend the Edinburgh tram system south?

Electro-Kevin said...

WCML full to capacity ?

In what respect ?

More carriages on trains would sort out the capacity issue. For most of the day there is no problem getting a seat on those trains.

Laban said...

The government has no money, but can find £30bn plus for this ... if they must, why not use the QE cash to pay for it instead of giving it to the City ?

The only good thing is that the Brum terminus will be in Curzon Street, where stands the massive 1838 terminus of a previous London-Brum line - the oldest station building in the world. Inshallah it may live again.

http://www.victorian-society-bham.org.uk/saved.htm

tory boys never grow up said...

It's the giving in to the nimbys and Tory MPs and spending an extra few billion on tunnels etc. to appease them. The returns on the investment would have been even better without incurring those additional costs - and all that extra spending could have been spent on something else that might have improved the economy e.g. not increasing student fees by as much. And now Cameron seems to be finding money to continue paying child benefit to higher rate tax payers.

Please remember this the next time you hear the Tories going on about financial prudence etc. etc. If there was some financial rigour on these matters I might have some respect - but there clearly isn't, it is all about getting their own snouts into the trough I'm afraid.

PS have a look at what is actually happening to the deficit.