MORE than 100 people crammed into Lymm Youth and Community Centre to hear about plans to construct part of the new HS2 high speed rail line to the east of Lymm. 
Local people heard from John Grime from Agden, Broomedge and Lymm East to Stop HS2, Joe Rukin from Stop HS2 and Warrington South MP, David Mowat. The event was organised by Warrington Friends of the Earth.
After the meeting, Mr Mowat (pictured) said: “The turnout, on a wet and windy night, shatters the myth that most people don’t care about politics.
“Although the line will be over two miles from the centre of Lymm village, there will be a small number of people whose homes will be affected.
“I am committed, as their local MP, to helping them get the generous compensation they deserve.
“However, as I made clear at the meeting, there is a pressing need for additional capacity to drive economic growth and ensure it is evenly spread across the country.
“The sad fact is that the money set aside for HS2 would otherwise be spent on yet more transport projects in London and the South East, which would bring no benefit to Warrington whatsoever.”
HS2 rail line draws the crowds
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
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Sounds like Party line to me- As a minimum he should be campaigning to get the route amended so it goes through Warrington Stations & more thorough questioning on the perceived benefits to the north would be helpful as it only seems to be HS2 Ltd who believe this!
No evidence was made at the meeting that if money was not spent on HS2 it would be spent in the London and South east area’s. Where is the written proof that this is what would happen? Like all of the HS2 literature a lot of it is pure conjecture and there is very little proof. We need proof not figures plucked out of the air.
It’s yet another vanity project for politicians
The sad fact is that the money set aside for HS2 could easily be put to much better use and to benefit the whole country, away from London and the South East if there was a political will to that end. Were that course of action taken employment opportunities in some of the bleakest unemployment zones in this country would improved as would the prosperity in them. HS2 will not provide the impetus for that.
For less than 10% of the money we could build an alternative to the M6 – for example. It could be designed for a 100+mph speed limit, a speed which most modern cars are more than capable of sustaining and which the current plans for self driving cars would make perfectly safe well before construction is finished. Quite apart from being far cheaper, a motorway also has the advantage over a rail line of providing a transport link to ALL of those along its length – not just those lucky few at a small number of stops along the route.
Cars may well be capable of sustaining 100 mph but drivers aren’t. Self-driving cars are a no-no , there have already been cases of cars control systems being hacked remotely. Just imagine some clown remotely taking over a car going at 100 mph.
Investment is needed in the rail system but the obscene amount of money spent on marginally quicker passenger journeys to a small number of destinations isn’t it. the emphasis should be on infrastructure and other inducements to get freight off the road and onto rails,
The Spanish must be thinking that 100mph trains WITH drivers aren’t such a brilliant idea! What was it, over 200 killed or seriously injured? And if you’re worried about hackers and system security, why would a hacker determined to cause destruction target a single car when a railway signaling or air traffic control system would be just as easy?
Railways – whether high speed or not – are ALL point-to-point systems based on limited numbers of nodes. 19th Century technology and completely obsolete. People no longer like they did in the 1800’s and they DON’T want to travel merely from one railway node to another. Modern transport systems require a network of routes which can be accessed at any point along their length and provide multiple alternative routes FROM anywhere, TO anywhere, whenever anyone wants to travel. Roads carrying individual passenger vehicles are simply the best solution to the requirement, and near future advances in vehicle control and technology will mean that cars will be able to travel much faster, in complete safety, with the occupants freed up from driving and able to work, eat, sleep, or do anything else they want to.
Missing the point as always Nick, just like your chums in Westminster! HS2 is about capacity, not speed – even still, the numbers dont add up.
Why? -easier.
Private cars with advanced vehicle control technology will be vulnerable to hacking (far more than transport control systems).
Leaving aside your personal dig, not missing the point just capable of looking at the bigger picture.
It’s probably worth pointing out that Network Rail is still looking at a hub and spoke system for the rail system in the UK based around HS2. So this would mean Warrington (and all other towns without a HS2 station) LOSING their direct services to London. Instead people would have to travel to their nearest HS2 station (Crewe or Manchester Airport) and get on the train their. If you want to get anywhere other than London, you’ll be on a slow local service.
Why either of our MPs would throw their weight behind such a scheme, even allowing for its ludicrous cost, is beyond me except for the fact that they are toeing the party line for the sake of their own careers and know that by the time the implications of this farcical scheme are evident to everybody they will be retired.
If it’s all about capacity not speed, they could use trains other than HSR which would mean serving more intermediate stations and not having to travel in straight lines so reducing the environmental impact of a new line. But they don;t want to which means either that it is about speed or – more likely IMO – more about having a nice big shiny vanity project.
Another point on the capacity issue is that the chairman of the Rail Freight Group who obviously has a vested interest if this scheme delivered all it claims, has pointed out that far from increasing capacity in the North and Midlands, HS2 will reduce it.
I seem to recollect Helen Jones MP was reported as being opposed to HS2 not so long ago? David Mowat has always given his tacit approval by not telling us whether he is for or against. Is it any wonder the eventual costs for the majority of government schemes and projects exceed their orginal budgets many times over when those we elect show a complete disregard for and complete lack of understanding of prudent financial management, not to mention project management? It’s only public money after all seems to be the attitude.
Not for long. Soon it will be private money and a lot of it will be outside the UK
Why would it be any easier? The current driverless cars are technology demonstrators, not mature and developed products. Production models will be far harder to compromise the security on than a railway signaling system with cables strung across the countryside just waiting to be tapped into. In order to hack into a car’s systems (assuming that the car even has a wi-fi connection or similar to give a possible way in) a hacker would need to know exactly WHAT the target car is (make, model, sub-model, software being used, any customisations, etc), WHERE the individual car was going to be, and WHEN it was going to be there. Even then, the worst they could do would be to delete or damage parts of the software – which would just result in the car shutting down and coasting to a stop. Maybe those who obviously know nothing about technology, computers, or hacking, should refrain from commenting on those subjects.
As you will appreciate where ever the money comes from or goes to the British public will eventually underwrite the cost of this misguided exercise in political vanity, whatever this county’s official balance sheet might show. It might even end up as an off balance sheet entry like most of the PFI schemes. By one means or another, be it a guarantee or surety, franchise arrangements or freefall fare structuring or the fallback of government intervention the investors will not loose out. You can be sure of that. This country will also loose out environmentally because HS2 environmental credentials are already in such tatters they are no longer offered up for consideration. Interestingly the group assembled to push HS2 through by the government and with HS2 set are some of those involved in the Olympics for which the eventual costs were more than three times the original budget.
Those who don’t keep up with security issues shouldn’t decry those who do.