HS2

The first London to Birmingham trains are scheduled to begin in 2026, but with inevitable delays I would think 2030 is more likely, and Manchester will be much later. As for the HS1 link it will surely be our great grandchildren who see the benefit of that. I would think by then our rail system will look distinctly out of date compared with the rest of Europe.

Work continues apace. I walked along the route of the old disused Kenilworth to Berkswell line (closed under Beeching), from Hollis Lane to Burton Green, earlier today. It's now called the Greenway, and there were quite a few walkers, cyclists and joggers, who, I am pleased to report, all respected the 2m physical distancing rule (not "social" distancing as it's misnamed by the government and their associates). A large swathe of countryside, almost parallel to, but actually converging on the old track, was being worked on throughout its length (or at least the part visible from the old track) by an army of vandals in bright orange unifoms, hard hats and boots. Chainsaws, some of them had, tearing down trees in a wood. Nearer to Burton Green, they've set up camp. More like a village then a camp: new roads, car parks, large gabled-ended buildings with all the facilities. The swathe that I saw is only about 1% of the total project length. It occurred to me that some of my tax is financing the project. This being a Saturday afternoon, they're obviously on premium time, as they work Monday through Friday. I wonder if they will be working on this white elephant tomorrow. Maybe they will be in church, confessing and repenting.

Hi Slim. Like you I am, on balance, against building HS2. However I think it unfair to denigrate the workers as an "army of vandals". The place where you live, the roads you travel on and the shops that you visit were all built by such people. And the place where you live was at one time woodland.

"'The first shock of a great earthquake had, just at that period, rent the whole neighbourhood to its centre. Traces of its course were visible on every side. Houses were knocked down; streets broken through and stopped; deep pits and trenches dug in the ground; enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; buildings that were undermined and shaking, propped by great beams of wood. Here, a chaos of carts, overthrown and jumbled together, lay topsy-turvy at the bottom of a steep unnatural hill; there, confused treasures of iron soaked and rusted in something that had accidentally become a pond. ... Hot springs and fiery eruptions, the usual attendants upon earthquakes, lent their contributions of confusion to the scene. Boiling water hissed and heaved within the dilapidated walls; whence, also, the glare and roar of flames came issuing forth; and mounds of ashes blocked up rights of way, and wholly changed the law and custom of the neighbourhood. In short, the yet unfinished and unopened Railroad was is progress; and, from the very core of all this dire disorder, trailed smoothly away, upon its mighty course of civilisation and improvement." Charles Dickens (Dombey & Son) on building the main line out of Euston just under 200 years ago. Nothing changes, but time is a great healer. Peter.

Because of this infernal interminable lockdown, my body clock has been b....... I mean, well and truly messed up. So I've been doing a lot of walking in the countryside, getting exercise and fresh air, often outside normal day hours. I'm talking of the wee small hours. It's good because nocturnal wildlife is about, most of the general public are asleep, and at this time of year, it never gets pitch dark and starts to get light before 0400 hours. It's also great not to have to contend with cyclists, e.g. the ones who think they have some divine right to cycle on the footpaths in the wood even though the signs say it is banned. Much of this walking has been around the Crackley Woods area, with its copious walkways. The old disused railway, tragically closed by short-sighted Beeching and his cronies, is one such. It runs alongside the new HS2 route for considerable distance. There has been more activity associated with the HS2 workers' camp. The other evening, I heard noise and excited voices from that direction. It appears not to have come from the HS2 camp, but from a group of anti-HS2 protesters, who have set up camp right next to the site. Their website is: Crackley Woods HS2 Protection Camp There has obviously been tension between the two rival camps, resulting in police intervention. On the corner of the HS2 site a Cryfield Grange Road, a security guard is posted 24/7. He sits in a chair staring at the road, giving you an "I've got your number Sunshine" look as you drive or walk past in the dark. This morning there were two marked police cars parked outside in the road, with nobody in sight. What I cannot understand is why vast areas of farmland, the size of dozens of football pitches or a small airport, have to be dug up, concreted, tarmacked and so on when all that is being built is a railway line. (At the Cryfield site, acres of land within the compound have been covered in green plastic sheet for some reason.) What I do understand is that, however well-intentioned, the protestors are wasting their time. Whether HS2 is needed or not is irrelevant. That is not why it is being built. It will go ahead because several people will pocket a lot of money out of the project.

Oops - the latest cock-up from the HS2 planners who were paid a small fortune of my (and the rest of you tax-payers') money: We can't even get the track height right, so forget any brewery booze-ups

From today's Times: "The drive by ministers to get people back to work seems to be stalling yesterday as figures revealed that most managers and professionals are choosing to work from home. ... A survey by the AA found 40% of people who normally drove to work were working from home... Official figures show that on Monday of last week, trains carried only 28% of their normal passenger loads. One of Britain's leading government contractors is planning to close more than a third of its 250 offices after concluding that staff are working just as effectively from home." In conclusion, a bloke in the pub earlier today stated "It will stop itself soon no one wants to go to london to work everyone wants to work from home 500 a week average train fair, no need for child minders 40 a day less cars on the roads no big rent bills for offices in london NO NEED For HS2 well done coved 19".

Slim. Can't see it working. OK in the short term but many given a long rope are likely to take advantage of it, given time. Anyway, who listens to what a bloke in a pub says? I don't.

"The rail company GWR is to continue on taxpayer support until next summer, long after the government furlough has finished, it has been announced... The temporary effective nationalisation of the railways by the DfT will continue for at least this one company... Passenger levels have not recovered to much more than a quarter of last year's..." (Source: the Times 2-9-20) I think those figures speak for themselves. And all the blokes in the pub agreed, so that proves it.

Hi Slim, A first class season ticket from Coventry to London plus Underground Zones 1-6 is only £400/week. If your friend is worried about the cost he could always go Standard Class paying only £250 a week. In any case I hope he is paying for the drinks. HS2 won't open until 2030 by which time Covid-19 will be a distant memory. What will the demand be by then - I don't know (and neither does anybody else). Trends show that people have been travelling further and more often since the railways were invented. Most people think this will resume once the Covid-19 restrictions ease, but they don't know at what rate. Currently demand and capacity have been suppressed by Covid-19, and the reduction in cheap advance fares. I would have booked to go to Scotland in October, but the advance fares are 10 times what I paid last year. Drop in passengers is not entirely the same as drop in Income. The GWR franchise finished in March and they are on a "Direct Award" (management contract) until 2023 because the government didn't get around to re-tendering the franchise. The "Emergency Measures Agreement" just allows them to run less trains to match demand. The Government had already taken on the revenue risk when the franchise agreement finished.

Sense of humour aside, I didn't exactly hear it said in the pub. I've quoted what the gent, who is a member of the HS2 Protest Group, wrote. But I think it's quite likely that he does go to the pub regularly. Or maybe not. That is a detail. I've pasted in what he wrote verbatim, as I do not like, and try to avoid, the use of anacolutha.

We hope. I'd sincerely like to think so. But according to the doom-mongers, it will be the end of the human race. A colleague in my team at work expressed his surprise that HS2 is being built on technology that is 200 years old, i.e. engines and carriages running on steel tracks! I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing, merely reporting.

Slim I loved Crackley Woods, and if a beautiful Convent had to go because of progress nothing will stop this latest fiasco. Best wishes to all those out there come rain or come shine putting up a good fight.

A fateful day about 3 years ago I found out that my council was eager to run an A road and/or part of HS3 through my parents' house, a few doors away from me. At the same time they planned a massive housing estate with an equally massive industrial complex stretching from my road, across 2/3rds of the Greenbelt to the south of the town. It was presented as a done deal and a benefit to the area. The protests do work to a certain extent. They can scale back ambitions. Force the authorities to consider easier options. Allow time for minds to be changed. Maybe Brexit and covid 19 will change things radically? From observing how they operate in the south east, the harder you fight the more likely you'll be rewarded. I'm cautiously confident that my bit is safer from all the threats I listed than it was 3 years ago.