The bit by London will be built. It will use the whole allocated budget. Hands will then be wrung about how it is now sadly impossible to extend it further north. See outside-the-SE Eurostar.
I am strongly in favour of more - any - high speed rail in the UK. But I think it will only work if it starts in the north and works south, building serious rail links between the major cities, with Londoners desperate to join in keeping up the pressure. As it is, Manchester-Leeds will continue to be a poxy chugger.
I wouldn't care if the cost will be borne by the people who use the service. But let's be honest, that won't be the case. It will be paid for out of general taxation, so despite the fact that I'll probably never use it, as a higher rate taxpayer I'll be paying a lot towards it for no benefit.
Actually, I think it will be half built for £25 bn, half abandoned for years, and then finaly completed in 2038, as part of a scheme which allegedly was just to re-open the Bletchley-Oxford line, and allegedly was going to cost £17bn.
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Date: 2012-01-07 05:05 pm (UTC)I am strongly in favour of more - any - high speed rail in the UK. But I think it will only work if it starts in the north and works south, building serious rail links between the major cities, with Londoners desperate to join in keeping up the pressure. As it is, Manchester-Leeds will continue to be a poxy chugger.
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Date: 2012-01-07 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 05:55 pm (UTC)