I remain unconvinced that there is any sense or justification in spending billions of pounds on HS2. First, let's look at the alleged time-saving benefits of the new facility, and see if things might stack up.
| LONDON | Before | After HS2 | |
| (To/From) | Now | Phase 1 | Phase 2 |
| Birmingham | 1:12 | 0:49 | 0:49 |
| Manchester | 1:58 | 1:40 | 1:08 |
| Liverpool | 2:01 | 1:50 | 1:36 |
| Leeds | 1:59 | n/a | 1:28 |
| Sheffield | 2:05 | n/a | 1:10 |
| Newcastle | 2:37 | n/a | 2:18 |
| Edinburgh | 4:00 | n/a | 3:39 |
| Glasgow | 4:08 | 4:00 | 3:37 |
The time saving for the three main destinations after phase one are 23 minutes for Birmingham, 18 minutes for Manchester, and 11 minutes for Liverpool. Now, call be a cunt, but I would say that these time savings are so fucking irrelevant that there is simply no point in spending billions and causing more disruption than a civil war!
Okay, so the benefits for Manchester are improved after the completion of the second phase, making a 50 minute difference (how the fuck, I've no idea) and Liverpool time-savers get 25 minutes of their lives to do more than sit on a train. All of this shite assumes that there is no carry-through of the threats to times after concerns about the environment - the ones that demand a slower service to reduce emissions/environmental damage/noise/pollution/rising damp.
Now might be a good time to raise the issue of ticket prices. I would guess that to travel on the HS2 line will be no bargain, and that tickets will be cuntingly and extortionately priced; why would it be any different? So the real benefits are minimal. Just like the M42 Toll, the price is high for the convenience of avoiding Birmingham, and whilst many people would no doubt very much like to avoid Birmingham, the £5.50 charge is a bit off-putting. In the same way, a slightly longer trip at a cheaper rate is likely to appeal to many more people, especially as a few minutes saving is not exactly going to earn them anything.
All schemes are devoid of common sense, as part of the planning, the implementation, and in assessing outcomes. So, there will be delays, leaves on the line, cunts on the track, and maintenance works, which will all slow things down. The benefits will not be forthcoming at anything like the speed of the fucking train (when there's nothing causing a hold-up).
Anyone who lives within a mile of the proposed route is basically fucked for the next ten years minimum. There will be compulsory purchase orders, and others who are even unluckier, where there is no requirement to take the house and land away from owners at a price, but simply massive disruption and inconvenience, while the value of their assets sinks lower than a whore's knickers. Just as we are now well used to the "health and safety" excuse that's bandied about as justification for pretty much any nonsense, I fully expect the justification of stupid actions and unfair treatment to be "HS2". Heaven forbid there are reasons to quote H&S and HS2 together, because that sort of justification would allow just about anything to be done or not be done. It's all akin to being back in a world war, when "it's for the war effort" was pretty much all one had to say to ride rough over anything. In the name of HS2, shit will be shovelled and spread everywhere.
The politicians will vote through the bills and push forward with the whole fiasco. This white elephant of a scheme will make the Dome seem like a good-value bargain, seeing as it cost "only" £800million. How can a country that's so badly off that it is cutting services all over the place, simultaneously consider spending what will most likely be £100,000,000,000 on rail travel? Have no doubt at all that the £43 billion (at 2011 costings) will turn into a MINIMUM of 2.5 times that, by the time it's all worked out.
Fucking unbelievable!
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