Chesterfield Online Forum
General Category => Chesterfield Discussion => Topic started by: Old Cruser on July 20, 2016, 09:20:02 PM
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FRom Natacha Engle on the H2
HS2 have now published their new route map and the proposed line has been moved to run parallel to the M18 motorway, to the east of Rotherham.
It has also been recommended that HS2 services to Sheffield split from the high speed line near Alfreton and travel to a Sheffield Midland station on a conventional-speed rail line.
This will mean that areas like Renishaw and Killamarsh will be avoided and that there may be the option for the service to stop at Chesterfield too. However the new proposed route has not yet been confirmed and will be undergoing a consultation later this year. After this has taken place, the Government will then take a formal decision on the route.
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Yes HS2.......The beast awakens.
I got a "Have your say" letter through the post the other day wanting your input into HS2 inviting you to information events in Sheffield and Chesterfield, did you get yours?
If you have seen the front page of last weeks D.T. it looks like salvation is on the horizon for the job hungry in Chesterfield but dig a little deeper and........
The Hartington colliery site is just one of SIX sites up for consideration.
Bombardier in Derby {world leaders in train making once upon a time} now working with only half the workforce it had in 2011.
It is alleged.......
The Hitachi train factory in County Durham that opened, not all that long ago, to much fanfare turns out not to be a train "factory" i.e. builds them, but a train assembly plant. It imports prefabricated trains to the plant to be merely put together like Lego and it seems Hitachi will soon be moving all their train building to Italy leaving the workers at County Durham high and dry next year.
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I have just read this.................
It is alleged:-
Since January 2017 at least 4 of the largest consultancy firms {no names no pack drill} have managed to shave just under £20 million off the top of the estimated £56 billion HS2 project already, I assume for consultancy work. One of those large 4 has the task of handing out contracts, so far at least 2 of the contracts {one over £200 million... the other £4 billion} have been given to "foreign" contractors.
OH NO!!! I'm seeing a white elephant again............NURSE THE SCREENS!!
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Wasn't the rumour the steel/rails were being produced in Japan ::)
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Haven't heard about the rails but it appears that HS2 trains and rolling stock production will be divided between 5 companies.
1 German... 1 Canadian... 1 Italian.... 1 French.... and 1 Japanese.
According to the powers that be the first stage of HS2 opens in 2026 {this is already in serious doubt but they've been told to keep shtum}
"HS2 will provide Japanese style punctuality on our railways as they will need less maintenance than our old Victorian system"
The only fault with that is apart from HS2 system itself the trains will still have to run elsewhere on "our old Victorian system" meaning branch lines wouldn't really see any benefit.
Train fares are already eye watering so jumping on a "faster" train that will get you there 20 minutes earlier will be no comfort.
George Stephenson must be turning in his grave.
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Looks as if the government are finally coming clean on the REAL cost of HS2 to the taxpayer,as I said it looks like even a money waster like Boris can no longer sell this "White Elephant" to the country any longer.
Anybody {and I mean anybody} in government, and elsewhere, who STILL thinks HS2 is a good idea should be sacked instead of wasting 3 years and then suddenly pretending that this overspend has come as a huge surprise, apparently there were a few dissenters back then who voiced doubts in 2016 but it seems they were silenced {got the push} courtesy of the then Chancellor.
Cameron gave you the referendum...and walked away.. Osborne did the same with HS2
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Looks as if the government are finally coming clean on the REAL cost of HS2 to the taxpayer,as I said it looks like even a money waster like Boris can no longer sell this "White Elephant" to the country any longer.
apparently there were a few dissenters back then who voiced doubts in 2016 but it seems they were silenced {got the push} courtesy of the then Chancellor.
Cameron gave you the referendum...and walked away.. Osborne did the same with HS2
Apparently not.... It is alleged
Although no longer chancellor Osborne is very much in the forefront of keeping HS2 "ontrack" as the big contractors who would lose out if it were scrapped are weeping and wailing about the "damage" to the country if the plug was pulled.
Even though the cost to date has been openly estimated at £80 billion {and rising} Osborne and his cronies seem to be ready to convince the nation that it will be all worth it in the end. Apparently one reason is the higher the cost paid to contractors the more money a certain corporation {who employs Osborne for one day a week for the princely sum of £650,000 a year} will make.
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They really cannot justify spending this money after all the cuts and from what I hear we in chesterfield have more to come.
People used to manage with a horse and cart!!!
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What needs to be done is to reduce the need for travel rather than pandering to it. For 16 years I worked for The Post Office (later Consignia, later Royal Mail Group). When I joined, with the former PHQ scattered to the four winds we had video conference facilities to reduce travel. But hardly anyone used them because the quality was crap. 16 years later it was still crap. That's where the investment should be going. Trouble is, no-one wants it. They'd rather have a day out.
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What needs to be done is to reduce the need for travel rather than pandering to it. For 16 years I worked for The Post Office (later Consignia, later Royal Mail Group). When I joined, with the former PHQ scattered to the four winds we had video conference facilities to reduce travel. But hardly anyone used them because the quality was crap. 16 years later it was still crap. That's where the investment should be going. Trouble is, no-one wants it. They'd rather have a day out.
Slightly off piste, but I too worked for the Post Office/Royal Mail/Consignia (which I always thought sounded like a man's deodorant!).
I worked there between 1985 & 2002, and all that time worked for OMAG (including all the other names it was known as).
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Slightly off piste, but I too worked for the Post Office/Royal Mail/Consignia (which I always thought sounded like a man's deodorant!).
I worked there between 1985 & 2002, and all that time worked for OMAG (including all the other names it was known as).
I was there between those dates (in ITD/iT/Business Systems), but I've never heard of OMAG. Maybe I knew it by one of its other names.
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I was there between those dates (in ITD/iT/Business Systems), but I've never heard of OMAG. Maybe I knew it by one of its other names.
OMAG stood for Overseas Mails Accounts Group, and we were based on the 6th floor East block of the old Chetwynd House. You may recall it better as Royal Mail International or International Letters?
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OMAG stood for Overseas Mails Accounts Group, and we were based on the 6th floor East block of the old Chetwynd House. You may recall it better as Royal Mail International or International Letters?
Oh, thanks for that. I was never in Chetwynd House. By the time our little group relocated from Swindon to Chesterfield, ITD had moved to Barker Lane.
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Oh, thanks for that. I was never in Chetwynd House. By the time our little group relocated from Swindon to Chesterfield, ITD had moved to Barker Lane.
The only dealings I had with Barker Lane was with a couple of guys who were doing a new mainframe system for us.
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I worked in Chetwynd House from 1973 to 1991 when I took early retirement.I spent all of that time in Personnel and for the last seven years in OMAG.
When the Post Office split the job I was doing was in Parcels and I was transferred to Parcelforce where I remained until I finished.
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I worked in Chetwynd House from 1973 to 1991 when I took early retirement.I spent all of that time in Personnel and for the last seven years in OMAG.
When the Post Office split the job I was doing was in Parcels and I was transferred to Parcelforce where I remained until I finished.
That'd be 5th floor East block in the Chetwynd House days then? I knew quite a few in Parcel force, I'm intrigued as to who you are, send me a pm with your name? Keith (ex Surface Letters sub group) (there's a rather large clue as to my identity!)
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Check your profile Alsatian, I think you have PM's turned off.
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Sorry, looks like it was something at this end.
Should be sorted now.
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Apparently not.... It is alleged
Although no longer chancellor Osborne is very much in the forefront of keeping HS2 "ontrack" as the big contractors who would lose out if it were scrapped are weeping and wailing about the "damage" to the country if the plug was pulled.
Even though the cost to date has been openly estimated at £80 billion {and rising} Osborne and his cronies seem to be ready to convince the nation that it will be all worth it in the end. Apparently one reason is the higher the cost paid to contractors the more money a certain corporation {who employs Osborne for one day a week for the princely sum of £650,000 a year} will make.
Update... to date estimated £106 billion {and rising} plus years added on to the completion date{s}
The stop HS2 campaign manager was quoted as saying "HS2 is an unaffordable white elephant"......fancy!
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Nah. We all know it will be worth it in the end :)
Oh no. Who are we :(
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This fast pace of living and getting around can't be good for anyone.
Life needs to slow down about - starting with no H2,
I remember the times on the old steam trains to Blackpool from Chesterfield. It was lovely to sit back and watch the scenery.
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[quote author=Old Cruser link=topic=6573.msg47056#msg47056 date=1579656964
I remember the times on the old steam trains to Blackpool from Chesterfield. It was lovely to sit back and watch the scenery.
[/quote]
Yes in those halcyon days of steam things did appear to go at a leisurely pace. Most people then only used the trains to go on holiday or day trips, very few {compared with today} needed a train to get to work. In some cases people only used them maybe once a year but the demand was so great it was a profitable business, yes it had it's faults, it wasn't perfect, and if the train did arrive at the destination 10 minutes late it was no big deal, but at least goods and people were kept moving. Then in the late 50's to late 60's people became more independent, they started buying cars which freed them up from railway timetables so broadened their horizons, more and more freight too started going by road as the motorways started to make an impact, so Beeching axed numerous railway stations obviously to cut costs and save money.
Unfortunately 30 odd years later it has gone full circle, the reliance on trains to get people to their place of work is phenomenal and in that time successive governments have failed to keep up with the demand. Grant Schapps {minister for transport} on breakfast t.v. this morning gave the viewer a classic lesson in how to evade awkward questions. It's always jam tomorrow with politicians, they honestly cannot understand why, when they announce all this spending and updating the railways, that it will take YEARS and YEARS. All the commuters cramped into ageing rolling stock having to stand all the way because there are not enough coaches on the train and they are constantly late for work want something doing NOW. It's no good telling commuters "Just hang on in there for another 15 years and we will have it sorted"
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Yep..it's official, another eureka idea {off the back of a cigarette packet} is now spiralling out of control.
According to the news the London to Birmingham stage won't be completed till 2030 + {and that's a conservative [!!!]estimate}
The argument now is do we cut our losses and stop this madness.....or
do we plough on regardless of the cost and inconvenience.
We could always have a referendum on it.....don't you think??
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Well..well..well,
Apparently when HS2, from the South, reaches Birmingham {stressing the when!} they will have basically run out of money, that or they just don't want to spend on the North now the South are going to be getting "their bit".
They are hoping the first trains to run the HS2 line from Birmingham to London and visa versa will be anytime between 2029 and 2036, and I don't mean round about half past eight!
It will be interesting to find out what the "newly" elected Northern Tory M.P.'s, and moreover their constituents, will make of the fact Boris and the gang have sh*fted them over.
The only good thing to come out of this is at least the HS2 fiasco will finally be coming to an end. The bad news is it's already spent well over it's original budget {big surprise} with not a lot to show so far, and everyone North of Birmingham will just get a sticking plaster for their rail services.