What is the difference between H2S and HS2?
For those of you who may not be aware, H2S is the formula of hydrogen sulphide, or rotten eggs gas, which is actually more poisonous than hydrogen cyanide, but less dangerous as it is so easy to detect it by smell. Mind you, once you have stopped smelling it, it is either because it has gone away, or is so concentrated that it has destroyed the olfactory cells in your nose!
HS2 is the planned high speed rail folly planned by the UK government that will a) cost a fortune, b) ruin a lot of countryside, c) need to be heavily subsidised by other rail routes and/or taxpayers d) take a WHOLE 35 minutes off a train trip from London to Birmingham. It is not even planned for it to go to any airport or meet up with HS1, the high speed rail link from London to the Channel Tunnel.
So what is the difference?
Answer: Nothing, they BOTH STINK!
Boadicea's Chariot 
Alas, poor FEEG – just as well you weren’t a Victorian or we wouldn’t have had the railways at all! What about new roads? We’ll need more of them soon. And the cost of upgrading the current outdated ineffective Victorian system would be considerably more!
I’m all for it, and it will be mighty close to my back yard. Have a look ant any modern developed nation (except Aussie for good reason) – high speed train links are all there.
To quote a resident from Kent on the radio yesterday “I went through years of noise and frustration, but now HS1 is build I hardly notice it and the benefits are plain to see.”
But that’s progress for you. Another runway at Heathrow, better lines of communication all round all good. I do agree that not linking it to Heathrow is a little silly, but that’s occurred because of all the NIMBYs!
At least Cross Rail is actually happening. The cynic in me thought it never would.
Ah, but Cuprum, I am not opposed to railways in general, just this one. The money would be much better spent of modernising the existing system. We do not need high speed railways in this country, except maybe one to Scotland, as the distances are too short. A similar venture in the Netherlands is costing Dutch taxpayers about £300,000 a DAY! I bet that resident from Kent is not a commuter, as the rail fares on Southeastern Railways have gone up even more than the others in order to fund HS1, and that line has some justification for its existence. Businessmen need to get to China and India more easily, not Birmingham.
We certainly do need more roads, and as regards the Victorian railways, there was one big difference. Shareholders picked up the bill and took the losses, not taxpayers!
Don’t forget that HS1 cost 7 billion and was sold for 2 billion, now that makes a lot of sense.
Besides which HS1 has not been a resounding success and has not cut the commute times to places that matter.
I used to commute from Ashford to London Charing Cross up until 1980, the station to station was 1hr 5mins on a fast train, from Charing Cross I walked to Piccadily to work in 5 minutes, or if I went to Canon Street to my other place of work it was 1 hr 10 mins (stopping train). If I did it now I would have to go to St Pancras, fight to the overcrowded smelly underground then on to Bank station taking 20 to 30 minutes depending on crowds on the underground, the trains to Canon street now take longer as do the Charing Cross ones, they were slowed to make HS1 look better. The overall saving on time now is 10 minutes but the cost is a hell of a lot more.,
return cost now to St Pancras in rush time is £62.60 that is horrendous when I can fly to Athens return for £120.
Well I’m all for it.
The problem with any existing lines is that they were not built with high speed trains in mind and are to say the least a bit wiggly. The straighter the track, the faster the train. While this is only between two of the crappiest cities in the country, they all have to start somewhere and there are plans to link it with the Noorf. Not that I am interested in getting to thge smoke any quicker of course, but anything which assists my rapid flight away from that stinking cesspit of scum and villainy is a welcome boon.
My only concern is the choice of contractor. What’s the betting our eejit gubmint give the job to Fritz? Anything rather than paying our own people for work.
Ferret I never thought Newcastle was that bad on my visit 🙂
I’m with FEEG, here. I think it is horrendously expensive and there is a great deal of opposition from the other end of the Chilterns. Bit nimby-ish certainly but I can understand why.
They are talking about a tunnel through the Chilterns, which frankly, makes the whole project even more costly. Somehow, I doubt if it is a done deal yet, but we shall see. I think the money would be better spent on more rolling stock for existing routes, especially commuter routes into London, to provide a better service.
With FEEG and Ara.
UK too small to bother with high speed.
Money could be better spent elsewhere.
As usual, I wonder who is making the profit on the backs of the taxpayers?
Another Tory scam to benefit themselves? Shouldn’t wonder.