The utilities situation under the road is bad (e.g. DNO HV cables in the "Do not disturb" state) but everything is well documented and there is a realistic plan.
I still look upon Trimphones with suspicion....
Here is HS2's own video marking the completion of the platforms (also released 13th August).
Its just plain bonkers given the progress that is being made here that HS2 Ltd are only targeting 2036 for start of services.
You can make all the progress you want on one station, but if there isn't a railway to run on or another station in Birmingham you're not going to get much value from opening it.
If the 'national cake' (taxes plus borrowing) is only so much, then after Defence, the NHS, Education, etc etc there's only so much left for Transport, INCLUDING roads, rail (including HS2) ... 'Cash is king'- IIRC Rachel Reeves said early on 'If we haven't got it we can't spend it', and if we overspend we have to cut back and/or take longer. That's what the HS2 'reset' is about. AND it looks like rail is going to need to divert funding to more on embankments etc relating to derailments-'events, dear boy' as PM Harold Macmillan put it.
Yes but its not sound finances for a project. They've expended c45B already that is being financed annually at at least 4% probably nearer 5% so its already costing c900m pa on interest charges alone that are being added to the bill. Then you have all the railway system and rolling stock contracts let which are in delay so there will be cost for prolongation of those contracts. So well over a billion/year is being added to the bill. Old Oak Common is the most complicated part of the project and its progress is very positive such that 2030 doesn't look beyond reach from here yet it looks like it will only be a shell then waiting for other parts of the project which were less complicated to catch up.
The surface part is due to open 2029 from memory (I think it was 2028, but has slipped), and don't really want big machinery still working there doing major construction. Bit of surface finishing is not a problem, but will want all the cranes and roof finished and all escalators etc delivered and in situ (even if not commissioned) because won't want to take things through the open to public bit.
They've spent 5 years moving roads around for Interchange and have build at least one bridge over where the station will be. But the station itself will be much simpler than the others, it's platforms at ground level rather than inside a box with tunnels like OOC or up in the air like Curzon Street.
3.5 years away seems very late, I am sure 3 years ago it was going to be 2026 or 2027
If the plan is to slew temporarily into some of the new platforms, why are they apparently going to be building a platform edge alongside the live railway, so has to be done at night through until July 2027
One difference is that the money to pay for the work is being rationed by year. The other is that they aren't trying to build it across a busy operational railway.
The moneys not being rationed its that what the treasury budgeted for is no longer sufficient partly due to inflation partly due to inefficient execution by HS2 in some areas.
Theyve come up with a pretty good plan that sees the bulk of the surface station built in the non operational space. Also once the lines are slewed the station isnt in use so they only need to maintain the four lines initially so they arent that impeded construction wise unlike say London Bridge rebuild.
As far as I can see, there’s every likelihood 3 of the 4 islands will be completed by the time of the track slue. So it’s possible that by then they can run a four track GW railway past platforms where no work is taking place at all. Or even position a couple of the four tracks temporarily midway between pairs of platform faces, allowing work on those platforms to continue with only limited risk to passing trains or workers.
(my bold)
Given the state of modern journalism, I'd ask rather if she paused to read what Claude/ChatGPT spat out before copying it in...
I presume the 450 metres measurement is , the length of them.A big clue as to HS2's overspends is revealed in a report on Old Oak Common in today's Independent:
(my bold)
Wow! Would that make them the deepest platforms in the world? That'll be some escalator! Just think of the gradients.
I wonder if Natalie Wilson paused to consider what she wrote? While she hasn't simply copy & pasted the HS2 press release which mentions "The six 450m underground platforms", I don't think she's fully understood what they've written.
But isn’t it also the sort of predictable error the authors of the press release could have forestalled, if they’d simply written “450m long underground platforms…”
My sources tell me that it will save about £400 and only delayed by 15 years more to make the modifications
