Ok so this is my first blog and indeed blog post and it’s already a moan, this could of course turn into a trend but I will if at all possible try to avoid that! I was hoping my first post would be about something positive and uplifting and any unlikely soul who happened across it and read it would be rewarded with joyful prose about something wonderful. Puppies maybe?
Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case, my day started in the usual way with a train journey, a simple 20 minute commute into Leeds. Something pretty difficult to get wrong, no? Well apparently not because as is all too often the case my train was delayed. Ordinarily no problem but I had a meeting this morning that was quite important, no real problem as I’d left sufficiently early but it is something of a regular occurrence. Anyone who is connected to me on LinkedIn will probably know I do a fair amount of travel around the UK for work, usually London/Birmingham/Edinburgh sometimes more exotic locations though, such as Basingstoke. Most of this is done by train, it’s the easiest way and mostly I can get some work done as the train ‘takes the strain’. However these journeys are tediously long and often delayed, cancelled or simply miserable due to overcrowding, lack of heating/air-con etc. Which brings me on to HS2, in theory this will shave time off my commute, trains will be more modern, the grass will most certainly be greener and birds will sing loudly in the trees. The only thing is, I’m not convinced as yet. Saving time would be wonderful but to be honest I think I’d prefer they spent the exorbitant amount of money it will cost on actually making the national trains work better, on time, and with greater capacity. Some trains that don’t look like they were around during the time of Dr.Beeching would be nice also! I realise this is meant to be a grand infrastructure plan that will grab headlines and make the government look amazing but these things always go over budget, run late and inevitably turn out to be a bit rubbish. Why not save all the hassle and just make what we’ve got workable, modern and stress free?
On a pertinent side note, could anyone explain to me why trains from London to Leeds seem to have an equal number of first class carriages to standard class when first class is more often than not deserted and the people in standard class is standing room only? Surely losing a carriage or two from first class and substituting with a couple of standard class carriages makes more business sense, irritates fewer people and might actually make a bit more money?
actuarialchris 
Why do people who are against HS2 are simply saying “we should spend on making the current railways work or health, education etc”.
Do you think that the money spent on the channel tunnel would’ve been better spent elsewhere? How about the HS1 link to France that means we don’t have to fly?
What about Crossrail, do you not think that the BILLIONS being spent on essentially a new central line would be better spent on current trains, health, education etc?
The point I’m making is that these budgets are completely separate from the HS2 budget. The government has decided that it is running 1 large infrastructure project at a time.
It is enabled by a “Hybrid Bill” in parliament that gives the government the power to build what they want. Once crossrail is finished, the funding goes over to HS2.
Have you considered the fact that Manchester – Leeds will be electrified, along with the great western mainline, midland mainline, all the intercity diesel fleet will be replaced along with many many other schemes country-wide that are designed to address concerns that frequent travellers like you and I both experience daily?
It’s NOT an either/or situation, it is ALL being done in unison.
In the only long term piece of cross-party thinking ever, the government is building APPRECIATING ASSETS as well as continuing to raise the funding for the black holes that are education, health
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m really not anti large infrastructure projects and in general terms I am very pro these things. My complaint is more about how bad our current rail network is and how I’m not convinced this is the immediate answer it’s being sold as. I genuinely hope HS2 is a success and my cynicism with regards to large public sector projects is entirely misplaced however I can’t recall a single one in my lifetime that went to budget or was delivered on time. I guess it’s not the best of arguments in that we’d never invest in anything again on that basis but I do think there’s an argument in favour of sorting out existing lines and trains right now while keeping an eye looking towards HS2.