HS2

[Roy Bloom]

.... she has to travel down the previous day, to be sure of making a 1000 meeting.

Absolutely ridiculous; what must other countries think of such a farce?

They fly in from other countries as well for 10:00 meetings.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Lawyer / solicitor / barrister on R5L this morning, talking about the proposed cancellation of HS2 north of Brum.

She said that, although she is in Manchester (which is what, 80 miles north of Birmingham?), she has to travel down the previous day, to be sure of making a 1000 meeting.

Absolutely ridiculous; what must other countries think of such a farce?

We can't organise a proverbial p1ss up in a brewery these days. When it comes to rail, many countries would be within their rights to literally laugh out loud at us. At this rate it's going to end up being a piddly little section that opens (if at all) and maybe doesn't even go into London.

Too much to go into here, we seem to have got ourselves wrapped up in business-political processes that are overly bureaucratic in nature, leading either to massive delays, overspends, white elephants or a combo of all three. Yes of course there needs to be robust procedures in place around procurement activities, contract award etc, however there's surely a balance and to me it's gone too much the other way.

Sorry, a bit OT there but kind of related.

 

[Brigadier]

Again on R5L, a bloke was on about the shambles that is UK capital projects.

Country's screwed, from the point-of-view that any future projects (and, for all I know, this and ones before) are victim to:

- firms won't bid in the first place, because they're crap contracts (goalposts keep moving, and might be canned anyway)
- those that do bid, inflate their prices massively, to account for the above.


Sh!tshow.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Again on R5L, a bloke was on about the shambles that is UK capital projects.

Country's screwed, from the point-of-view that any future projects (and, for all I know, this and ones before) are victim to:

- firms won't bid in the first place, because they're crap contracts (goalposts keep moving, and might be canned anyway)
- those that do bid, inflate their prices massively, to account for the above.


Sh!tshow.

I'm sure they referred to this on QT last week (or another political tv prog) with regard to bids for a new offshore wind farm. I think 10 or so companies expressed interest however due to one of the mandatory financial criteria, none of them could bid, not financially viable for them. On the one hand you could argue UK taxpayer money has been protected through a robust procurement process, on the other hand you could argue when are we going to get the flipping wind farm?

Bloated processes with many making a mint from said processes.

Here in Scotland we can't even get two ferries built! And the SNP want us to be independent?!?

 

[Dork Lard]

Bloated processes with many making a mint from said processes.

Here in Scotland we can't even get two ferries built! And the SNP want us to be independent?!?

At least here in Engerland we have a lot more projects to spread the corruption over . . . .

 

[Dork Lard]

I'll throw a spanner in the works & mention summat my semi-tame rail buff insists is true.

Our railways have NEVER been financially viable in their own right. Not even in the hey days of frenzied building & Victorian travel. They have ALWAYS relied upon subsidies in one form or another.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

I'll throw a spanner in the works & mention summat my semi-tame rail buff insists is true.

Our railways have NEVER been financially viable in their own right. Not even in the hey days of frenzied building & Victorian travel. They have ALWAYS relied upon subsidies in one form or another.

I can't comment on that, however we used to be at the forefront of train stuff regardless of whether or not things were subsidised. What happened to us?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I can't comment on that, however we used to be at the forefront of train stuff regardless of whether or not things were subsidised. What happened to us?

First in, first out - In the early days we invested lots of money in development, which other countries were able to make good use of, and eventually overtake us.

We spent vaste amounts of money in the development of aircraft, in the 40's through to the 70's, then other countries took advantage, and simply did things better. Nuclear, we did all of the initial running, then passed it on..

Shipping, likewise..

It's what we do, as a country.

 

[Dork Lard]

I can't comment on that, however we used to be at the forefront of train stuff regardless of whether or not things were subsidised. What happened to us?

IMO it was post war nationalisation. This gave people who weren't qualified by success the ability to make decisions on far reaching subjects that they didn't really care about or have a stake in.



P.S. A major university is researching the possibility of 'steam' returning to the rails, but maybe not steam that is generated by coal fired locomotive.

 

[Dork Lard]

First in, first out - In the early days we invested lots of money in development, which other countries were able to make good use of, and eventually overtake us.

We spent vaste amounts of money in the development of aircraft, in the 40's through to the 70's, then other countries took advantage, and simply did things better.


It's what we do, as a country.

Concorde is/was the classic vanity project which was first initiated by people who weren't qualified by success but somehow ended up in a position where they called the shots.

If you sat down with a piece of paper on day one, & jotted down all the figures you could think of, then the project could never make a financial success when you added them all up.

 

[Odds]

At the risk of setting Gant off on a rant, the costs of the lockdown are just beginning to spread ripples through the economy. Did anyone really think the Chancellor was handing out free money to business' struggling through the pandemic?
It's payback time.
HS2 is one of those put on the backburner, waiting for better times ahead - which the Man from MOT assures us is just around the corner.
The Channel Tunnel overran its budget and projected finish by several millions and a few years. When the canals were being dug in the 19th century they always overran their budget. Concorde was years late and cost a small fortune by the time it took to the skies.
It's the British way. All those teabreaks, if you ask me.

 

[Mottie]

Man from MOT

?

 

[Odds]

?

You always say the economy will improve soon, don't you?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

?

??

 

[securespark]

Absolutely ridiculous; what must other countries think of such a farce?

Other countries own or part own our railways and are rubbing their hands with glee because all the huge profits from our vastly overpriced train tickets are feeding their train networks meaning they can subsidise their passengers.

So they're OK, Jack.