It is much debated nowadays as to whether HS2 will be approved and given the go ahead following the Oakervee review.
The Oakervee review led by Douglas Oakervee is examining the case for HS2 following rising costs. The costs were originally forecasted at £56bn, but that has now risen to £88bn. Now there is a problem: Contractors have already started preparing for HS2 by demolishing skyscrapers at Euston and demolishing the former Great Western Railway (GWR) train depot at Old Oak Common. If the project was to be entirely cancelled, then that would mean a lot of work wasted and buildings unnecessarily demolished. The latest news is that PM Boris Johnson wants to review every 'sacred cow' project and is encouraging his Cabinet to scrap projects which won't give good value for money. Other projects do include the Heathrow Expansion project. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) I know would be keen for the ancient woodland to be left as it is, which would leave the option of tunneling HS2 underneath or completely scrapping it. Then there's all those houses due to be demolished in northern England, just to make way for a high speed railway, which might not bring any benefits to our railways. Why can't the houses be left alone? It's just causing mayhem and distress to those who occupy them. The option would be to tunnel deeply underneath them, or once again scrap the project. Let's take a look at the proposed terminus at Birmingham Curzon Street. The last time I saw the area of land it's due to be built on, there was nothing except for the historic building (that was built at the time of the London and Birmingham Railway during the days of George Stephenson) and some hoardings. Once the HS2 terminus is built, it is supposed to have good connection links with the Midland Metro and Birmingham Moor Street station, but what if I want to travel to Birmingham New Street from London Euston directly without changing trains? Now that does change things. I'm not really interested in travelling by HS2, but I would really prefer to travel by the West Coast Main Line itself - it's fast enough for me and it takes me to where I want to go. That leads on to another topic that does need to be thought about. HS2 Limited might have thought about this, but on the other hand maybe not. Do we need HS2? Do people need to commute to London from northern England when cities like Manchester, Birmingham and Sheffield have got their own amount of jobs on offer? Has the government thought this through? Maybe we don't need HS2. If other countries in Europe and the rest of the world have miles and miles of high speed railway, that doesn't mean that we have to do the same and keep up with everyone else. There is no harm in being different and just having not so many miles of high speed railway. That statement also accounts for the proposed Northern Powerhouse rail project, which is proposing to build another high speed railway (HS3) that would connect with HS2. From what Transport for the North (TfN) are saying it sounds like that HS3 will destroy the scenery of the countryside, which I'm sure nobody wants in particular. People don't really need to commute such long distances. Leisure and business travelers yes, but not the everyday commuter. Let's take this further; Do we really need to split the north south divide that politicians are always going on about? No, we don't. Whoever made that one up was only trying to push the case for HS2. From what the latest news says, it sounds like Boris Johnson is thinking about it, but beyond that we don't know until he makes his decision. I remain neutral for the moment on the subject of HS2, but I'm certainly not for HS3. I don't like seeing countryside scenery being destroyed. I do know that there are several people who want the money to be spent on more favorable rail projects like more electrification and reopenings.
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