Tempting as it is to lapse into a ‘Big Brother’ style spoof (“it’s day two in the Wendover house”) I refrain from succumbing! This is only going to be a short blog anyway as little of interest has happened. The bailiffs and police have the site secured with a literal ring of steel, having it all fenced off. Access was always made difficult by the fact the squatter camp was bounded by the Chiltern railway to the West and the A413 to the East. Sneaking in was never going to be easy and now the remaining occupants are cut off from their tiny bunch of supporters, few of whom turned up today.
This morning less then a dozen of the usual suspects (Keir, Thompson-Smith et al) spent their time in a pointless stunt outside Bucks County Council offices ‘demanding answers’ as to why the CC had leased the land to HS2 to carry out the eviction.
The selection process for the Golgafrincham B Ark – sorry – the HS2Rebellion protesters outside the Bucks CC office this morning. I’ll bet staff were quaking in their boots! As for ‘local’ Mark Keir (one of the 9) lives in West Drayton in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Who knows where some of the others have been drafted in from.
It was the same tired and trite diatribe and bluster about how everyone, HS2, the County Council, the bailiffs, the police, the courts – and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all – were colluding and acting ‘illegally’. In fact, the *only* people who were supposedly acting legally were the protesters! It’s a bit like an unfunny version of ‘Carry on Cleo’ with Keir in the part of Kenneth Williams, shouting “infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it infamy!”
A weary Council Officer was sent out to talk to the protesters and listen to their nonsense. No doubt a reply will be drafted laying out in legal detail the reality of the situation – to which Keir and co will respond in true pantomime fashion with ‘oh no – it isn’t’! – and the curtain will rise on the next farcical act as none of this will change a thing.
A video has appeared on Youtube with Mark Keir, who went full Goebbels on camera to Sky News. His fantastical claims have become more and more unhinged. HS2 will drain the Grand Union Canal and destroy drinking water? He seriously thinks people will fall for this stuff? Keir and Co have got to the stage now where they’ll literally claim anything as they know the game’s up.
Of course, while their pantomime was in Aylesbury there was no-one to bother the bailiffs, who just got on with the job of assessing the site and working out how many protesters might be playing their pointless game of hide and seek. There’s obviously no rush to get them out as they’re not interrupting any construction work in the slightest – which is why this camp (like the Euston one) is utterly pointless. Plus, the longer this drags on the more of the tiny bunch who turn up outside will get bored and drift away. There’s little in the way of boastful livestreams or posts coming from inside the camp either, so the keyboard warrior voyeurs who normally feed off this stuff have little to send ‘love and rage’ about (unless you get off on a 14 sec, close cropped vid of someone eating out of a can). Euston or Denham this ain’t, it’s all going to be a bit boring and tedious. So I won’t be doing daily updates, merely try and keep a tally of how many have been evicted and when it’s all over.
Meanwhile, the fat lady’s in fine voice, even if it’s a comic opera she’s singing in!
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I woke up to the news this morning that HS2 contractors, police and bailiffs had begun the long-awaited eviction of the last anti HS2 squatters camp remaining on phase 1, the risibly named “active resistance” camp outside of Wendover, Buckinghamshire.
As it’s situated alongside the busy A413 road the operation’s begun on a Sunday in order to lessen the disturbance to locals (most of whom will only be too glad to see the back of the squatters). It’s difficult to say at this stage how few people are still occupying the camp but the numbers are small – as can be judged from the absence of comments and livestreamed videos from inside the camp compared to previous evictions. As news of the eviction has spread on social media a few more people have attended but as they can’t get into the camp they’re doing little other than creating a nuisance to traffic!
Events are unfolding on the HS2 Rebellion Facebook page where some videos are being posted, but they make it clear that the squatters and their few friends watching outside are vastly outnumbered. A large number of the familiar faces who were the ‘hard-core’ of the protesters are noticeably absent. Currently, the bailiffs are repossessing areas of the woods and erecting fencing. There’s very little in the way of confrontations as even the squatters seem to have realised the futility of their actions. The numbers watching the videos are also markedly down from previous events, which suggests many of the keyboard warriors and armchair activists have lost interest as the result is only going to go one way. None of the livestreams have had viewers above double-figures! Mind you, as the one’s on the Rebellion FB page are from fantasist and liar Mark Keir (the Walter Mirtty type who claimed to have watched the Roald Dahl tree being cut down in Jones’ Hill Woods) that’s hardly surprising. His commentary’s so away with the fairies you’re better watching the videos with the sound off!
I’ll keep you informed of how things progress as it could be several days before the farce is finally over.Whenever that is, it can’t change the fact that the ‘rebellion’ against HS2 was always more bluster than fact. It took little more than a year for the protests to collapse in ignominy. Now the fat lady’s singing…
UPDATE: Sunday evening.
It’s only day 1 of the eviction and already some of the handful of squatters have been removed. One left of their own accord as they were feeling ‘unwell’ and another two were removed from a bathtub up a tree! I mean, seriously? a bathtub up a tree? The camp has been established for two years and if that’s the best they can come up with. Needless to say, the bailiffs soon pulled the plug on them!
The farce will continue tomorrow and for a few days hence. However long it takes doesn’t really matter as (like the Euston tunnels) this camp isn’t stopping construction of HS2 in the slightest. Oh, if you are tempted to watch any of the videos on Facebook, I would seriously recommend turning the sound down if the commentator is Mark Keir! He’s made a tedious ass of himself as usual today, at one point claiming ‘victory’ because a cherry-picker was being moved so (according to him) the eviction was over for the day – only for said cherry-picker to then pluck the pair from the bathtub! Keir reminds me of the old adage – “How do you know when he’s lying? His lips move”!
Just how away with the fairies these people are is demonstrated by this earlier tweet from an old face. “Boots” (aka William) – the ‘eco-warrior’ who’s recently flown back to the UK from one of his regular jaunts to Spain.
Apart from the fact you can file this under ‘it never happened’ the idea that these people (who have minimal supplies as the donations have been running out) can hold out for ‘months’ is hilarious! You just know this tweet isn’t going to age well…
So, turn down the sound (you won’t learn anything factual) and pull up the popcorn as the eviction unfolds over the next few days…
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We’re now back home after a brilliant week in Shropshire. We left this morning but took most of the day to come back in order to prolong the holiday. First off we nipped back down to Ironbridge for breakfast in the hope we’d see the place in the sunshine that was predicted. Sadly, that wasn’t the reality. Low cloud and mist cloaked the area leaving the light looking flat. Even so, we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the town – and a decent breakfast of smashed Avocado and poached egg on toast at a cafe overlooking the bridge.
Bidding adieu we decided to ignore the motorways and cut across country in order to explore. As much as we’ve enjoyed Shropshire we’ve noticed a marked difference to home as we’ve toured the county. Many country pubs are derelict or are intact but remain closed, meaning it’s hard to find somewhere to stop for a drink or bite to eat. In contrast, most of Yorkshire’s establishments have reopened. Why there’s such a disparity is impossible to fathom. We know some of our locals are struggling to find staff. Is the situation worse in Shropshire, and if so – why?
Heading back the first major town we looked at was Market Drayton. As the name suggests it’s a market town. There’s some fine old half-timbered buildings but we weren’t tempted to stop as we’d been spoiled earlier in the trip when we’d visited marvelous Ludlow (and also Shrewsbury). So, we kept driving across country. Passing through Loggerheads (no, really!) to skirt Stoke and pass through Leek before hitting the Peak District. The weather improved the farther North we got, so much so that by the time we arrived in Buxton the temperature felt more like June rather than October! It was so good we decided to take a break and found a pub with a beer garden where we could sit and soak up some rays over a drink and watch the world go by.
Buxton is known for its waters (bottled and spring) but for people with an interest in railways the area’s also known for its rail connected quarries which ship stone all around the UK. Dawn was happy to drive past the one at Peak Forest in order than I could grab a couple of library pictures as the weather conditions were perfect. Here’s a sample.
An empty DB Cargo train backs into the loading area at Peak Forest. Each one of those wagons can carry almost 78 tonnes of stone. There’s 22 of them in that formation. Loaded, they’ll carry 1,700 tonnes. In contrast, an 8-wheel HGC road vehicle can carry just under 20 tonnes, meaning each train like this is taking 85 8-wheeler lorries off the roads. Oh, and that’s before we even think about the amount of Co2 saved, not to mention all the other environmental benefits.
The rest of the trip home was in weather akin to what you can see in the picture. Sadly, it’s not forecast to last, but hey-ho. We’ve had a great break in Shropshire which we both thoroughly enjoyed – and we’ve still got the weekend to look forward to (and a busy week after that)…
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Over the past few days the media has been covering the story of the trial of seven HS2 ‘rebellion’ protesters who were arrested after being evicted from the tunnels they’d dug under Euston Square gardens earlier this year. After the eviction which lasted over a month the Metropolitan police charged the protesters with aggravated trespass.
Yesterday, at Highbury Magistrates court District judge Susan Williams dismissed the charges against the seven, leaving HS2 ‘Rebellion’ in boastful mood – as this post on their Facebook page demonstrates.
“Victory” for the tunnellers? Really? Why? What did they stop?…
So why did District judge Susan Williams dismiss the charges? Well, the answer’s rather embarrassing for HS2rebellion and the hopeless protesters. It’s because whatever they did in Euston Gardens they were never going to stop HS2 being built as the gardens weren’t an active HS2 worksite. Put simply, you can’t ‘stop’ what isn’t happening! This article in the Guardian newspaper sheds more light.
Laughably, Daniel Hooper (better known as ‘Swampy’) is quoted as saying. “Our plan is to stop HS2”, completely ignoring the fact he couldn’t possibly do so by digging a tunnel under Euston Gardens, which is why the Judge dismissed the case. Even Baldrick can come up with a better plan than this! But this is typical HS2Rebellion and their through the looking glass world. It’s very Orwellian,1984 truthspeak – ‘failure is victory’…
Ironically, I’d been highlighting the fact these protesters were useless as they were nowhere near an active HS2 worksite right from the start of the protest and in blogs like this one from February, before the farce came to an end.
Of course, HS2 Ltd were disappointed that the charges (brought by the Metropolitan Police) were thrown out of court as the whole fiasco is estimated to have cost £3.5m. After all, Just think how many trees that could have planted? I’d suggest that the police need to work more closely with lawyers in future to ensure that any charges levelled are appropriate and stand a chance of sticking in court. Even so, this was no ‘victory’ for the protesters Their raison d’être is to stop HS2, but yet again they’ve proved themselves to be abject failures – and now their day is done…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
*I’ll flesh this blog out tomorrow. I’ve far more pictures and information to add…*
Our plans for today changed just as quickly as the weather. Last night we’d intended that today would’ve been spent walking on the Long Mynd outside Church Stretton, just 30 minutes away from where we’re staying. The only problem was the forecast had changed overnight, so plan B was put into action. Another place we wanted to visit was the recreation of a Victorian industrial town at Blists Hill near Ironbridge. Ducking and diving in-between museum buildings seemed like a far better option than getting soaked in showers on the moors, so we chose the former, which turned out to be a wise choice.
We both thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The collection of buildings on an old industrial site which has a rich history was fascinating, as was the fact the staff (in period dress) knew so much about the era they were recreating, which made the visit far more interesting and educational. It’s not just a collection of re-erected old buildings, it’s far more. The original industrial remains themselves would be worth the visit, from the old canal to the remains of the ironworks and blast-furnaces. The museum’s on a grand scale.
For now, here’s one picture. This is a replica of the world’s first steam locomotive to run on rails, designed by Cornishman Richard Trevithick which was built in 1802. It tootles up and down along a short demonstration track alongside the canal with the original brick and tile works as a backdrop.
4th October
Here’s some other pictures, with more to come…
Inside the candlemakers, a vital industry in Victorian times as candles were most ordinary people’s only source of light. This chap showed us the process of making what would have been tallow candles. Each wick would be dipped up to 25 times in order to build the candle to the required size.
People dressed in clothing of the time, and showing the correct skin pallor! Actors like this could be found wandering around the site as well as staffing the shops.
I see that HS2rebellion have finally updated their map of protest camps along the route. Well, sort of! It’s no more truthful than their last one, but at least they’ve tacitly admitted their efforts to stop HS2 have been a complete waste of time. Their camp map has gone from this (with my annotations) which listed 10 camps…
to this, which lists just four.
As usual, there’s just one teeny problem. This is ‘map’ is as exaggerated as their last one, because two of these camps no longer exist! The Wormwood Scrubs squatter camp was demolished and the people living in it moved on last month. The Jones’ Hill woods camp is also deserted. Having stopped nothing and serving no useful purpose because the trees they were supposedly ‘protecting’ have been felled, the occupants (like serial pork pie teller Mark Keir) have scattered to the four winds. Most have simply given up and gone home.
This leaves just two, sparsely occupied camps. The sole remaining camp left on HS2 phase 1 – the risibly named Wendover ‘active resistance’ camp (whose only stunt in weeks was to block an old woman’s driveway) – and the utterly pointless Bluebell wood camp which is on the phase 2a route to Crewe where the main civils work won’t start until 2024, leaving the few occupants twiddling their thumbs for the next couple of years (or until they get bored and go home, which is more likely). Of course, the Wendover camp is living on borrowed time. It will be evicted any time now, bringing an end to the hopeless ‘rebellion’ which is going to survive in name only. Just like its predecessors including ‘StopHs2’ it’s a become little more than a couple of social media accounts that recycle any media articles critical of HS2 as a way of pretending they’re actually doing something other than still begging for money from gullible people via Crowdfunders.
This lack of action from the remaining squatter camps hasn’t gone unnoticed – even from their supporters, as this rather waspish comment that was posted on the Bluebell camps Facebook page shows!
Feel the burn!
I predict that the end of HS2 ‘rebellion’ is nigh. They’ve had a lousy summer, a time at which they could be expected to be at their busiest. Instead they’ve been anything but. Now Autumn’s upon us and all too soon winter will arrive. The ‘glamour’ of living in woodlands when it’s clear you’re wasting your time soon wanes – especially when the donations that funded you have dried up. Cold, hunger and the realisation that you’ve been useless really isn’t good for morale. Add to that the fact the work to build HS2 has ramped up and proved to be unstoppable and you have to think, what’s the point?
Stop HS2 is dead. It’s all over bar the bluster now…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’m taking an unplanned trip to London due to a problem with one of my cameras. My trusty Nikon D5 has taken a bit of a battering in recent weeks and has decided that enough is enough – so it’s gone on strike. It refuses to work in any mode other than manual, which is a bit of a bugger. So, it’s off on its holidays to Fixation for a bit of TLC. I’d intended dropping it in soon to have all the rubbers on it replaced. I bought the D5 in August 2016 and to be honest, it’s operated faultlessly for over five years since then, despite the amount of pictures it’s taken and the countries it’s been to. My cameras have a hard life as they’re tools, not toys, which means they don’t retain that much second-hand value – even on a £5,000 bit of kit as they really do look like they’ve been through the wars, even if mechanically and electronically they’re still sound. Fortunately,
I always have a back-up as I keep the camera’s predecessor, in this case, the Nikon D4., which is going to enjoy a brief spot in the limelight again. Of course, there’s never a good time for these things to happen, but tomorrow Dawn and I are taking a week’s holiday, so I’ve no commissions to worry about and can take pictures for pleasure. Hopefully, the D5 will be fighting fit by the time I return and need it again. Now maybe it’s time to think about one last upgrade and plan to acquire the D6 sometime next year…
Right now, I’m working from another mobile office. This time it’s another of LNER’s old Mk4 sets on a Leeds – London diagram. The train’s not as busy as my inbound TPE service from Huddersfield (which was packed) but the loadings are certainly in the profitable margin. I’ve a table bay, so I’m happily set up and working away – as I will be on my return. I won’t be hanging around in London once I’ve dropped off my camera it’ll be a quick turnaround, but that’s life. Catch you later…
17:15.
Having delivered my ‘baby’ to be repaired I’m now heading back North having taken a few shots at Kings Cross with the old D4 just to get used to using it in anger again. I’ve not handled it for years so I’m having to unlearn what I did when I switched to the D5. The ISO control switch was the only major button that moved. On the D4 it’s on the bottom of the backplate. On the D5 it was relocated onto the top plate so that you could press it with your finger and change to ISO with the rear control wheel without having to take your eye away from the viewfinder. It was a far better arrangement. You can still do it with the D4 but you need both hands and it leaves you holding the camera in a cumbersome way. Ah well, it’s only for a while and I’m sure I’ll still get used to it. The D4 sounds different too. The mirror and shutter mechanisms make a much louder ‘clunk’. I could literally tell the two cameras apart just by listening to it! Another thing’s the back screen. I’d forgotten just how much bigger and with better colour rendition the D5 has. I’m going to be doing a lot more histogram-checking again now.
Still, first world problems eh?
18:20.
We’re well on our way up the East Coast Main Line now, the weather’s looking pretty miserable with massive rain-clouds dominating the horizon although I’m warm and dry here. As well as ploughing through emails I’ve managed to download the pictures I took earlier to ensure the D4’s still working perfectly despite having been little more than an office ornament these past few years! Everything’s looking fine, much to my relief.
It’s several months seen I’ve done one of these, mainly because there’s so few people left protesting against HS2 now that their campaign’s collapsed. Finally, the tiny bunch of squatters at the risibly named Wendover ‘active resistance’ camp have remembered what their camp’s named and decided they better do something other than sit around bumming money via the internet whilst waiting to be evicted.
Come the hour cometh the man! Step forward ‘Drew Robson’ (not his real name, just the one he uses on Facebook), who, along with another person, decided to repeat their old tactic of blocking the entrance to the nearby HS2 work compound by fastening themselves to a ‘lock-on’ (a barrel filled with concrete that’s meant to make it hard for them to be moved).
There was only one tiny problem. Drew’s useless at this. He once glued his hands together through a gate in another ‘cunning plan’ that was an abject failure as the gate he chose wasn’t actually being used by anyone. Clearly, learning from his mistakes isn’t his forte? Why? Well, the comments to this post on the HS2 Rebellion Facebook page rather give the game away…
When HS2rebellion tried to defend this stunt as bringing attention that a ‘fight’ against HS2 was still happening, Aron went on to explain further..
Yep, ‘Drew’ has got it wrong again! What the protesters fail to explain to their gullible audience is that HS2 compounds usually have far more than one gate and the ‘main’ gates are always staffed 24/7, making these stunts rather difficult.
So, Drew (and his friend) have achieved the sum total of sod-all. Again. Their sole achievement has been to block some poor person’s driveway!
‘Drew’ will possibly get arrested again, but as he’s already got a recent conviction for aggravated trespass and criminal damage at another HS2 site I can’t imagine the Magistrates will be terribly impressed with him reappearing. What a waste of everyone’s time. To put this silly stunt in perspective, there’s currently over 300 active worksites on phase 1 of HS2. Many have several entrances/exits. Blocking one (unused) entrance for a couple of hours is just pis*ing in the wind.
UPDATE.
By early afternoon the whole silly stunt was at an end. Despite the best efforts of HS2rebellion to ‘big up’ the farce more knowledgeable locals kept bursting their bubble.
No doubt their Facebook friends and other ‘keyboard warriors will swallow the ‘main gate’ nonsense hook, line and sinker, but more enquiring minds might look at another of the pictures posted on the Rebellion Facebook page and say “that is a *main* gate? Really, at that width? You’re not going to get any wide loads through there, and where’s the site office?”
I had to laugh when ‘Drew’ posted this on his Facebook page earlier.
‘Disruption’? What disruption – unless you count the poor person who’s driveway was blocked! If today’s farce was a ‘complete success’ I hate to think what failure looks like!
UPDATE.
The farce just gets better. After persistent pointing out from locals HS2 ‘rebellion’ finally admit that they were lying when they claimed this was the ‘main entrance’ and all they’ve done is inconvenience a local old lady! Still, it must be reassuring for her to knew that she ‘wasn’t the point’. Answers on a postcard please as to what the point really was…
2023 Update.
After Wendover was evicted ‘Drew’ pitched up at the ‘bluebell’ camp in Staffordshire where he continued with the same daft publicity stunts that achieved the sum total of naff all, other than gull a few people who continued to donate to crowdfunders under the mistaken belief muppets like ‘Drew’ were actually stopping HS2. The truth was these ‘cupid stunts’ failed to achieve anything other than waste time and money. The ‘rebellion’ collapsed completely in 2022 and now Drew (like all the other professional protesters) has drifted off to other causes. He’s currently achieving nothing in the Manchester area where he’s attached himself to the pro-Palestinian cause. HS2rebellion now exist in name only. A few kids still have access to the social media accounts and publish whatever make-believe or newspaper articles they can find that are critical of HS2, but that’s all they’re doing.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Today the Public Accounts Committee released their latest report on their investigations into the High Speed 2 rail project. It’s not a bad bit of work. It’s (rightly) critical of some aspects of the project but it doesn’t descend into hyperbole in the way the PAC used to do under a previous Chair. Instead, it’s objective and balanced – which is why it’s been almost completely ignored by opponents of HS2 as it’s shot their fox when it comes to their hysterical and exaggerated claims for the ‘true’ cost of HS2. I read it this morning but I’ll spare you having to do the same as I’ll bring you some of the highlights here. However, If you want to read the full report yourself. here’s a link.
Somewhere in there (and on the other side of the M25 already is a tunnel boring machine going great guns digging one of HS2’s Chiltern tunnels.
The summary immediately upsets opponents of HS2 as it points out that the costs of HS2 are nothing like their distorted claims. The report states that;
“With construction of Phase one underway and plans for Phase 2a approved by Parliament, the current estimated cost of completing High Speed 2 is between £72–98 billion (2019), an increase from the original budget of £55.7 billion (2015 prices) in 2015. While HS2 Ltd consider these estimates to be realistic, uncertainty remains, particularly when a substantial amount of the Phase One programme is still to be procured and HS2 Ltd is already reporting cost pressures of £0.8 billion from activities such as delayed enabling works and Euston station. HS2 Ltd is also unable to quantify the final cost of the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic but estimates the cost to be between £300 million and £400 million at the end of 2020. If these costs are validated, they will need to be covered by the government-retained contingency of £4.3 billion”
So, yes, there are budget pressures, due to programme delays and Covid, but more of that later as the news isn’t all bad. For example, the project has a huge contingency budget, here’s what the report says on page 4;
“The Phase One budget is £44.6 billion including almost £10 billion of contingency (2019 prices)”
That’s a lot of contingency! Page 5 puts this into an even clearer perspctive.
“HS2 Ltd is now able to provide us with a clearer explanation of costs than we have previously seen in its reporting to Parliament. HS2 Ltd reports that it has spent £11 billion to date and used £0.4 billion of its contingency, out of a total budget of £44.6 billion (2019 prices). The contracting of Phase One civil construction, worth £15.5 billion, is complete, of which £2.5 billion has been spent. HS2 Ltd considers the budget for Phase One to be realistic and estimates it has completed approximately 20% of the work, having spent 5% of its contingency.”
Yep, only 5% of the “almost £10bn” has been spent, which suggests there’s still a lot of leeway in the budget despite the pandemic and other unexpected events. Contingency is a figure that most commentators (even those who should know better) routinely fail to explain. When you see that “HS2 will cost £100bn” or whatever headline figure’s being bandied around (normally the fictional £106.6bn lazily and wrongly used by the media) it’s important to understand this isn’t the *cost* of HS2, this is the budget for HS2 – and that budget includes a large contingency that’s there as a cushion in case of genuine, unexpected cost increases – such as the ones allocated to Covid – and only a tiny proportion of it (5%) has been used so far.
So, Quite rightly, the report recommends that;
“The Department and HS2 Ltd should set out as part of its future 6-monthly reporting to Parliament, a more comprehensive view on risk to the Phase One cost estimate and the use of contingency” this would include “a clear indication of whether cost pressures have increased, decreased or remained stable since the preceding 6-monthly report”
This makes sense as the budget is often difficult to understand as breakdowns don’t always follow a logical pattern. Another nugget is the news that the projects finances are not all about the contingency being eaten into. Page 11 contains this item;
“HS2 Ltd explained that it had an efficiencies programme and had found savings and opportunities totalling £200 million, mostly for civil construction such as bulk purchase of fencing and security.”
The report is less optimistic about the redevelopment of one of the key parts of the project – Euston station. The PAC’s very critical of the Department of Transport. They say;
“The Department has made little progress on the design and delivery at Euston since we last reported, and we remain concerned that time is running out. Euston station is a key element of the programme both as the London terminus for High Speed 2 and a link to existing railway network and London Underground. We raised concerns over the lack of clarity of the design and delivery of Euston station in our May 2020 report, but the Department has made no final decisions”
This is spot on and a major concern. The DfT (no doubt driven by the Treasury) has been doing everything it can to penny-pinch on Euston, even going as far as to potentially hamstring the future resilience and expansion of services by trying to cut the number of platform from 11 to 10 just to save a few bob in the short-term. As the PAC states;
“the Department has spent the past 15 months looking for cost saving options”
Sadly, this is a familiar pattern and a classic example of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. There’s a number of rail schemes where the DfT is constantly delaying them by asking for ‘reviews’ to relook at crucial (but expensive) options. The Trans-Pennine route upgrade (TRU) is yet another example. Rightly, the PAC point out that these delays can cost more money than they save.
The PAC mention another issue, not with the HS2 railway itself, but with the DfT and Government. They say (page 7);
“We are increasingly concerned that the Department and HS2 Ltd do not yet know how they will turn the benefits promised from High Speed 2 into a reality, including what additional investments will be needed or how these will be funded”.
It’s that vision thing again. It’s notoriously difficult to get politicians (and the Civil Service) to plan for the future rather than the electoral cycle. Of course, without HS2 the question is moot. You can read far more about the Euston station question on page 12 of the report.
There’s also a lot of detail on other aspects of the project including training, consultations and complaints, but I’m going to focus mostly on cost. On page 11 the report outlines the fact nearly of the major contracts for Phase 1 are let so costs are known;
“The construction of the main civil engineering components of the programme (such as tunnels and viaducts) is a major undertaking and was a major cause of delays and cost increases at the time of our last report.16 In a letter following our evidence session, HS2 Ltd informed us that it had now contracted all the civil construction work, worth £15.5 billion, of which it had paid approximately £2.5 billion. It told us that the estimated total cost of all four stations for Phase One would be just over £5 billion, and that it had agreed contracts for three of the four stations. As a result, it expected that the construction for Old Oak Common would be £1.67 billion, Birmingham Curzon Street would be £460 million and Euston would be £2.6 billion. It explained that it had not yet agreed a contract for construction at Birmingham Interchange but expected this to cost in total between £350 million and £500 million. HS2 Ltd told us that it estimated that railway systems will cost a total of £3.6 billion. Although some of the smaller systems contracts, such as the tunnel safety doors, had already been procured, HS2 Ltd told us that railway systems was the part of the programme where most procurement was outstanding. HS2 Ltd told us it planned to procure the larger systems contracts, such as track, electrification, signalling and controls, in the next two years. HS2 Ltd estimated the cost to purchase the trains (rolling stock) would be around £1.6 billion. The Department and HS2 Ltd told us that they hoped to award the contract to design and build the trains later in 2020″.
This is rather a disappointment for those who like to make up exaggerated numbers for how much they claim HS2 will cost!
Section 16 (page 13) goes into detail on the risks of integrating HS2 with the existing network, a problem that’s bedeviled Crossrail and one everyone’s keen to learn from and not repeat. I won’t go into detail other than to say it’s a problem people are focussed on avoiding.
The report contains an updated schedule of works, which says this;
“HS2 Ltd told us it had a 10-year programme of work for Phase One before services started between 2029 and 2033. It further explained that it planned to complete civil construction between 2020 and 2025; railway systems between 2025 and 2028; and, commissioning, integration, driver training and entering into service between 2028 and 2030”. This suggests that HS2 services will begin well before the extended programme date of 2033.
All in all it’s a good report that’s realistic about the challenges that come from the largest construction project in Europe, one that’s going to take many years to complete., with all the uncertainties and wild-cards the world can throw up in such a period. I only wish others would take such a pragmatic and reasoned approach. But that approach is probably why it’s been widely ignored. Journalists can’t roll out their favourite cliché and call it ‘damning’!
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Having sorted out what I need to do today I’m off on another jaunt, this time over to Humberside to get some pictures for a client. I’ll update this blog as I go, right now, it’s time to head to the station and my first train of the day…
10:15.
After a brisk and breathless walk into Halifax I made the 09:53 to Leeds and York by the skin of my teeth. I really should have paid more attention to the clock but got diverted by stuff as usual.
This is another busy train despite it being a three-car Class 195. Here’s how it looks after calling at Bradford Interchange.
10:50.
Oh, bugger…
My connection off Leeds was meant to be LNER’s 10:45 to London Kings Cross but my suspicions were raised as we pulled in and it was nowhere in sight. Sure enough, it had been cancelled due to points failure, leaving my plans completely up the spout. The next service is the 11:15 which is running 20 mins late on its way in due to the same problem.
11:20.
Oh bugger (pt 2)…
The inbound LNER service turned out to be a vintage Class 91 and Mk 4 set short of coach E which has meant it’s quite cosy with two trainloads of people aboard. Needless to say, it’s late leaving as a 10 minute turnaround time was always going to be rather heroic as staff needed to replenish the catering and conduct a crew change.
91111 named ‘For the fallen’ to commemorate all those killed in World War 1.
I’ve given up any idea of trying yo find a seat, so i’ve done a Jeremy Corbyn and sat in a vestibule at the rear of the set by the loco.
We’re finally underway 7 mins late which the Train Manager announced was due to waiting for a path due to congestion. I may have to reassess my plans when we get to Doncaster as these delays are eating into my day…
13:00.
I’m now burbling my way across the flatlands towards the Humberside/Lincs coast aboard a TPE Class 185, one of a pair heading to Cleethorpes. Unlike most of the other trains I’ve travelled on recently this one’s very lightly loaded which is surprising as I thought the seaside was back in vogue. But then – Cleethorpes…
Despite running late I’ve decided to continue as it would be a tragedy to waste the good weather. Even if I can’t get all the pictures I wanted I’ll be able to get some and also recce other locations ready for another day. My stopover at Doncaster was fruitful as it gave me chance to get shots of the redeveloped station forecourt which has been wrested away from the motor car and pedestrianised, making it a much more attractive public space, complete with a water installation and monument to the town’s railway history.
13:55.
Oh, bugger (pt 3).
We’re now sat outside Grimsby Town station waiting (and waiting) to get in, apparently due to signal failure in the area. We’ve had a TPE and East Midlands service pass us heading West, but we remain stuck.
14:30.
Made it – finally, now to take myself and the camera for a walk. As you can see, the weather’s not bad at all…
18:00.
Well, that was an interestin (if sometimes depressing) stroll. After bagging the shots I needed in Cleethorpes I elected to walk back along the coast to Grimsby in order to examine some other photographic locations and explore new territory. The weather was ideal and visibility excellent. Sure enough, I managed to find a couple of new locations for rail shots but it was the tall Italianate tower in Grimsby docks that intrigued. It dominates the skyline and looks far to grand for Grimsby. It’s actually an accumulator tower which was built in 1852 to supply the hydraulic pressure to power dock machinery. I’ll add a link and pctures later.
Trying to get a decent shot of it was a challenge. I spent ages wandering around the old dock area which is a derlict shadow of its former self. To alter the old joke – if Typhoo put the T in Britain, who put the Grim in Grimsby?
The irony? Grimsby is a very Brexity area. Many in the town were conned into believing that if they voted to leave the EU their fishing industry would regain its former glory. It was always a fantasy and now reality is hitting home as the opposite is true. Brexit has been a disaster for UK fishing and that’s before the full impact of restrictions kicks in. In a double irony, a deprived area like Grimsby would have been entitled to EU funding. Will the UK government replace such funding? Will it hell. Grimsby’s yet another victim of the lies that Brexit was built on.
Despite the decline there’s still one smell that pervades the old docks (even if some of it is now a marina) and that’s the smell of fish. It’s omnipresent. The area retains numerous businesses (large and small) that depend on fishing for their existence. Mind you, it’s not just the smell that’s the telltale – it’s the seagulls that gather on their roofs like seawater Vultures.
Despite the decay, I’d have hung around for longer if I’d had time as there’s plenty to photograph if you like architecture (good or bad), urban decay and social commentary. Oh, there’s the railway angle too, although that mirrors the decline of the docks and the English seaside. As it was I ran out of time so I’m now on another quiet TPE service heading back to Doncaster. I could do with at least another day in this neck of the woods but that’s looking unlikely now as plans change. Earlier I was asked if I could double the word count of an article there was ‘no rush’ for – and get it in by Friday at the latest!
19:45.
I’m now on another LNER Azuma heading back to Leeds after a brief interlude at Doncaster. This is quite frustrating as the sky has been absolutely on fire tonight. The sunset has been glorious in colour and intensity but I’ve been in no position to capture a single image. I only hope we get the same tomorrow as I’ll be working from home so can always nip out with the camera.
20:12.
Oh, bugger (pt 5)…
We’ve been stuck outside Leeds station for the past 15 mins without any idea why as the crew have nade no announcements. In frustration, I tweeted LNER. Just as soon as I did (and no doubt by pure coincidence) the Train Manager came on the PA to announce that points failure was blocking platforms 0-6 so a large chunk of the station was unusable. He’d no idea when we might get a path into the station. My connection left at 20:12, so that’s screwed…
20:45.
We finally arrived into Leeds 36 mins late. On the ‘bright’ side, that gave me planty of time to catch the 20:42 to Halifax, especially as it didn’t depart until 20:44. I even had time for a dash to Sainsbury’s to buy some muscle relaxant. I wasn’t going to drink today, but what the hell..
My day’s began and ended the same way, with a points failure. These critical bits of equipment are robust, but when they fail (especially the more crucial switches at busy locations) they really can cause havoc. At hubs like Leeds the ripples can spread right across the network, delaying trains from Scotland to the South-West and all points East – or West. It’s difficult for the lay person to understand just how dependent the railways are on trains running to time and how what can seem sometimes insignificant delays on long-haul services can have such a knock-on effect.
21:10.
We’ve now left Bradford and I’m on the final leg home. Time permitting I’ll round this blog off with a couple of extra pictures later. But first I need a bath! Walking miles carrying a heavy camera bag whilst wearing a black ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ T-shirt in today’s heat wasn’t my brightest idea…
22:40.
Time to call it a day. The bath was lovely – a soak with a glass of red wine just to relax the muscles even more has left me feeling very mellow, but not so mellow that I couldn’t post a last couple of pictures as promised.
It’s not *all* grim in Grimsby. Here’s the 300ft Italianate Dock Tower which was modeled on the tower of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico in Italy. You can read more about it and why it was built here.
This picture’s of the Victoria Flour Mill and Corporation Bridge. The Grade 2 listed flour mill flourmill, warehouses & offices was built between 1889 & 1906. Constructed out of red brick, it also has blue bricks plus stone & terrracota dressings and welsh slate roofs with stone-coped gables & parapets. It’s magnificent in size and stature.
Corporation Bridge is a Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge dating from 1925 which was designed by Alfred C. Gardner, docks engineer of the London and North Eastern Railway. You can learn more about it here.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
