From the YCMTSU FILES! More costs for the UK’s HS2 rail link. Socialists can't build trains and railways that have enough doors, or even stations with the right size platforms !!!
Stupid is, as stupid does!
We will all be familiar with California’s lame attempts to build a railway on the west coast of the US (on a major earthquake fault line!).
From Brave AI:
“California’s high-speed rail project has faced severe delays and escalating costs, with the estimated total cost for Phase 1 now reaching $126.2 billion—more than three times the original $33 billion projection from 2008. The project, intended to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, has been repeatedly delayed, with the initial 2020 completion target pushed back to 2033–2040 for the first segment (Merced to Bakersfield) and full Phase 1 completion now expected no earlier than 2040.”
Not be outdone, the Brits are seeking to rival this ‘lameness’ with their own levels of stupidity – bris have ‘renationalised he railway, forcing taxpayers to pay for the substantial losses of stand-alone rail companies and claiming to ‘freeze fares for the first time in decades by passing on fare increases to taxpayers – gaslighting as usual.
From here:
Saturday Read: On freezing rail fares
Fare increases for passengers or tax increases for everyone – let’s tax everyone – seems much fairer, right?
And a few articles for background here:
From the YCMTSU files (you cannot make this shit up)!
“HS2 is building a two-kilometre spur of track to Manchester that ends in a field and is likely to remain unused for decades, The i Paper can reveal.”
And now this:
HS2 forced to rewrite £2billion contract for trains that are wrong length
“Ministers are preparing to overhaul a £2billion deal for HS2’s high-speed trains after discovering the locomotives are the wrong length.”
“Officials are now examining multiple options, including shortening the trains, lengthening them, or manufacturing two different sizes.
The Conservative government signed the original contract more than four years ago, when HS2 was still planned to extend from London all the way to Manchester.
“Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to announce a major “reset” of the remaining London to Birmingham route in the coming weeks.
“Phase one’s current estimated cost stands at £54billion to £67billion in 2019 prices, with some analysts suggesting inflation could push the final bill towards £100billion.
The contract has already faced controversy, with The Sunday Times revealing in late 2023 that original designs featured carriages without sufficient doors.”
“Meanwhile, Conservative former minister Esther McVey has attacked the broader Northern Powerhouse Rail project as a “charade” designed to “keep mayors of the north happy”.
Ms Alexander rejected this criticism, stating the government has developed “a sequenced, credible, phased investment plan” for improving northern rail services.
Ha ha ha! “sequenced, credible, phased investment plan” when all we can see is a chaotic, non-credible, “out-of-phase” and horribly expensive growing disaster!”
“An HS2 spokesman said no changes have been made to the original order.” What?!!!
“These sorts of cock-ups permeate the top-level of UK decision-making and explain why UK energy prices are FOUR TIMS HIGHER THAN THOSE IN THE USA (BECAUSE OF stupid ‘NET ZERO’ policies!)
Stupid is, as stupid does!
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Not just net zero of course. Cutting the country off from Russian oil and gas was not wise and this was compounded by failing to continue North Sea gas and oil extraction even though we continue to buy gas and oil from Norway extracted from the same fields. Along with the HS2 debacle Britain is a country run by successively more incompetent governments and an ever growing army of apparatchiks. There are never any consequences for failure.
Goes through my village, unbelievable amount of disruption and mess