Pre-Victorian, even. The track between London and Birmingham was opened in 1838, for the coronation of Queen Victoria.
Why hasnt the Goverment got people like this guy in charge of the PR around HS2 ? ive got more information in this 30 mins than the dozen or so public meetings ive attended, news articles and the HS2 leaflet i got not too long ago i feel he actually puts forward some good points, not full enough to fully sway me on HS2, i still feel there are better ways to achieve what he proposes... but he has some good points
Built by China or built properly. I'm sure Cummings is negotiating his bonus with President Xi's aide as we speak.
Built by China, the lowest bidder. or Built by Britain, so still built by the lowest bidder, just at a ludicrously inflated price. 'Built properly' was never an option.
China that has got alot of HSR and so have experience but it sounds like some future HSR is being put on hold due to much of it not even making enough to pay the interest on the debt. And that's with fares competitive with bus and air travel. I guess we may not have the same money issues here, i mean it won't be competitive in the slightest - passengers will be squeezed dry.
And when the franchise inevitably goes bust as a result of passengers not being able to afford tickets then the tax payer gets to pick up the tab a 2nd time, hooray for the demented logic on which trains operate here All that being said, China has a point about building it quickly (regardless of who actually builds it): If it is done by say 2030 instead of 2040 that is a whole decade worth of inflation that can be saved.
Very true. Like I say, they have experience. By then there may not be any of those pesky EU H&S laws either so we really can go full on Victorian
It does make me wonder what "conditions" the Chinese would apply to the building of it, they have form in a lot of countries around the world with their infrastructure "investments" puting those countries into serious debt to the Chinese government which ultimately leads to compromises being made on other deals i.e. access to markets, trade etc.
The UK ain't quite in the same position as Ethiopia where borrowing from China is the only option and the train line would never get built otherwise. However, if it prompts us to tell Trump to shove his trade war up where the sun doesn't shine... China will certainly not complain.
As far as dealing with Trump is concerned, Boris has already painted his nose brown to get the trade talks underway. I'll leave you to think about what he painted with...
The only glimmer of hope is Trump slamming the phone down on him about Huawei. Not sure if Trump had or hadn't been told we'd been using and monitoring them for 15 years already.
