Bloated BART Extension, New Chicago Union station*, and HS2 Cancelled: The Urbanist Update

[@cythrosi]

The fun thing with HS2 is so many of the cost issues they cite are largely from their own policies. Tories continue to take a project, overload it with stupid reworks and demands, and then cancel it to show how great at austerity they are. Sad thing is with them going scorched earth with this, even when they get kicked out next year, salvaging the project will be a nightmare, if not impossible.

[@dylanc9174]

And they are supposed to be "pro car", but they're only making traffic worse by doing this. The tories have held the UK so far back. They don't seem to understand that cancelling projects that imrpoves the country only costs more than the price of the project.

[@YetAnotherGeorgeth]

It’s still possible that Labour could bring it back because the current government haven’t given the land back that they brought on the phase two alignments. I think there’s a petition going through one of the official online channels.

[@arthur1670]

I wonder how much more those Euston tunnels are gonna be when they can’t take the dirt out to Old Oak Common

[@flargus7919]

I have heard it said that this was always what was going to happen with HS2. That they were going to make sure the all-important London-Birmingham connection would get built, then scrap the rest citing costs, and that the only way it was ever going to be completed in full was if they had started building it in Leeds and Manchester and worked their way south to London.

[@dylanc9174]

@@flargus7919 Those in power don't want it finished.

[@luke2029]

As a Brit I’m really disappointed with the current administration for cancelling the project. The media have completely misrepresented the projects mission as one that is meant to decrease journey times. Like you said it’s whole purpose is to increase capacity on existing mainlines and therefore increase the number of regional and freight services. Most people I’ve talked to in England only talk about the cost of it and how it will only ‘marginally’ reduce journey times. Just goes to show how much damage misrepresentation can do. I just feel bad for the midlands and the north, it’s not about journey times to London, it’s about building modern rail infrastructure for regions of the UK that have consistently been subjected to public underinvestment. It would also allow more regional services helping to increase the connectivity of those regions and put their rail somewhat on par with the south-east and London.

[@obamatherock9397]

Yeah I often like to compare hs2 to the channel tunnel, the point of the channel tunnel wasn’t to make it quicker to travel to France. It was about political connection to France and making the uk and France feel United until the tories tore us apart.

[@TheLiamster]

I feel the same way. It’s embarrassing that we are simply choosing not to build high speed rail when other European and Asian have been doing it for decades and are still expanding their networks. Even less developed countries in Africa are building HSR. It’s frustrating it’s being cancelled because construction is already underway and those sites will end up being abandoned

[@MannyAntipov]

@@obamatherock9397 I remember that Eurostar trains used to speed along the French countryside on their dedicated HSR lines until exiting the English side of the tunnel, to which trains were then stuck behind stopping passenger trains through Kent and South London. As soon as CTRL (Channel Tunnel Rail Link, though up-marketed as HS1 by the gov) was completed, there was a doubling in frequency of the Southeastern trains services to places like Orpington, Sevenoaks, Dartford and Tonbridge. If the first high-speed project could make ripple effects across the southeast of England, just imagine how much the benefits would be felt across the UK by HS2.

[@lozoft9]

Do y'all use the term "administration" too? I thought that was just a US thing and Brits solely use "government".

[@jeff__w]

I’m in California and even _I_ knew that the main purpose of HS2 was to offload the express trains to their own separate line and increase the capacity of _both_ the high speed and the existing mainlines. The cancellation is, honestly, insane. Aside from not building a modern rail infrastructure, the cancellation sends the message that the UK can’t get anything done, that somehow France and Spain and other European countries can accomplish countless high-speed rail projects and the UK, somehow, can’t complete even one. What’s even worse, though, is that Rishi Sunak has authorized the sale of properties that were subject to compulsory purchase [eminent domain in the US] orders on part of the route, making it really difficult for a later Labour government to reverse the decision. I wouldn’t even credit the decision as a whole with being short-sighted-it’s just plain wrong.

[@zippity010]

Caltrans employee here. It's super infuriating seeing that story come out, but not unsurprising. Nominally, we're supposed to focus on multimodality, but most people who work here are old and set in their ways and are unwilling to change. There are pockets of good at the org - most young people I talk to want to see BRT, rail, and safe, segregated bike infrastructure, and the rail/mass transit division has some of the most staunch rail expansion advocates in the State. However, I don't think much is going to change until more young people replace the older generation.

[@Seabass3920]

@zippity010, I hope so. California/US needs to stop their obsession with highways and freeway widening thinking that it will “fix traffic”. I think LA has far too many freeways, we need more rail/mass transit. But I think we need to work on safety before doing that.

[@alexhaowenwong6122]

Want good transit news out of California? Look to San Diego, where: 1. Trolley ridership is exceeding 2019 levels 2. The busiest Trolley line runs more frequently now than it did in 2019 3. SANDAG is proposing a one-seat airport to downtown rail connection with 2 minute frequencies 3. Riverwalk golf course on the Green Line is being redeveloped into 4,300 units* 4. SDSU is turning former Qualcomm Stadium into a satellite campus with 4,600 units only 8 minutes from SDSU main campus by grade-separated LRT* 5. UCSD is building two 23-story apartment towers next to the Mid Coast Trolley, which... 6. ...Started construction a year after the Crenshaw Line, opened a year before the Crenshaw Line, and cost less per mile than the Crenshaw Line. *Under construction and outside Downtown

[@teguh.hofstee]

Would be nice if there was better transit to Balboa Park, Hillcrest, North Park, Convoy, etc. though. Takes over 4x as long as driving to get to a lot of San Diego…

[@frafraplanner9277]

The Purple Line will be a game changer, not just for San Diego, but for all of the United States

[@adianchowdhury9016]

Really hope they can secure more local funding for transit sometime soon, the progress right now is just too slow!

[@SwingyMikey]

@@teguh.hofstee Not really trying to dispute you but we gotta give credit where its due. For sure taking transit to some destinations in SD ain't the best but at least it is there, and transit to balboa park and uptown really is not the worst. 5 bus lines directly (within a short walking distance) serve balboa park's main attractions/The Prado (3, 120, 7, 11, 215) with the 3 getting 12 minute frequency after this sunday. Coming from different parts of SD does tend to be quite a bit slower but still not the worst compared to some other cities. MTS does need to add some express routes though for sure at some of the major hubs that go to the beaches, convoy, and Balboa, but some of these issues arise from horrific urban sprawl in SD than MTS just not having routes to connect to those destinations. We need more dedicated right of ways for sure, and speedy right of ways for our buses.

[@teuast]

I will never forgive the San Diego of the past for running the 5 and 163 directly between Balboa Park and downtown. They wasted so much land on absolute boondoggles that destroyed and isolated neighborhoods and didn't even make it any faster to get around. They need to rip the 163 out from Cortez Hill all the way to the 8, as well as honestly the entire section of the 5 that the 805 parallels. I know the 5 is one of the main federal interstates, but they can just say the 805 is now the 5 instead.

[@atm1947]

Just a reminder that Caltrans spent more than $100 million on widening U.S. Route 101 (in the Bay Area) with a toll-based express lane in order to “fix traffic” and adequately cover road maintenance costs. The program has already cost more than it’s netted in revenue, and traffic on 101 has not improved even marginally. Thanks Caltrans!

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

It’s important to have that context when talking about the costs of transit projects. What would the cost and benefits be of continuing to expand highways compared to building a new transit line(s), if both are intended to relieve congestion and make travel easier between two or more points?

[@matthewhall5571]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc highways are repeatedly scientifically proven to be useless and offer no long term improvement once you get to megalopolis density level like we have in SF / Oak / SJ, LA, and SD. On a fair comparison doing the projects correctly and pricing in all externalities and subsidies an appropriate form of transit or non car mobility solution will win every time in a major urban center.

[@ChrisJones-gx7fc]

@@matthewhall5571 I don’t disagree.

[@atm1947]

@@ChrisJones-gx7fc True, but its hard to convince Americans out of the cognitive dissonance we're stuck in. Government spending is bad, especially when its spent on extensive public transit. And yet government spending to widen freeways is regarded with passive indifference or moderate praise by the public and most politicians. I honestly don't really have a solution for this either. I love America, and I hate to be in the Not Just Bikes group of people who write off this country as having zero future for widespread transit and walkability. But what can you really do when people already think public transit is a waste of money and that freeway widening will solve congestion? What can you do to an attitude that has been cultivated for decades, and that most have grown up with and adopted wholeheartedly?

[@wta1518]

And they're currently wasting almost $500 million (estimated cost, so the final cost is probably going to be something like $50 billion) adding another lane to US 50 in Sacramento, disguised as "resurfacing".

[@MrFanatic33]

That CalTrans story is fucking wild. If this is how the DOT of the supposed most progressive state in the union regards highway expansion, just inagine how evil red state DOTs can get.

[@Joesolo13]

Don't need to imagine it, just look at Texas

[@GBR9794]

@@Joesolo13 Texas is red dot of doom.

[@tonyburzio4107]

Florida, that scarlet of Red States, has the only (lets say that again) only new rail. What was that, did you say, Florida?

[@knosis]

I don't need to imagine. I live it.

[@jsrodman]

It may not be obvious to people who live elsewhere, but the SF Bay area, Los Angeles, and San Diego are progressive. The rest of the state is not. There's a lot of mid-size cities up the central valley which are decidedly red. It's also an extremely gerrymandered state, so there's a lot of set-in-their-ways politics on both sides of the US binary, which in turn leads to ossification in various places, including the DOT. (Also, DOTs as a class have been completely warped by the way we do the funding since eisenhower, which is the bigger factor of course.)

[@Liminal_Simulacre]

As a French, it is sad frustrating to see how low Alstom has fallen, the company is in a very bad shape, partly because of a brainless management and major hostile takeovers of its most profitable activities like the the very shady buyout of Alstom energy by General Electric.

[@HamSaladtv]

@K0sm, can you link some articles in French ajour Alstoms issues?

[@MarvinHuber_PlanetCoaster]

Yeah, they lost all the know how, just look at what they delivered to CFF with the twidlexx swiss express

[@DelftTrains]

As an Alstom employee I agree it's sad to see other departments fail so miserably. If Alstom allegedly failed to do basic things such as train modelling there's no excuse honestly. With the Alstom share price being at a 20 year low, it wouldn't surprise me if things will change in the future. Hopefully for the better...

[@MarvinHuber_PlanetCoaster]

@@DelftTrains Yeah I hope it gets better again, the design is really cool, but the way the train behaves not so much. Oh and the toilets smelled so bad that the whole Zürich underground station was disgusting for a year. Gladly they fixed it. And also good that CFFs service (especially in the restaurant carriage) saves the experience for me. Overall I wish for you and transit in general that alstom gets better again👍

[@TohaBgood2]

The Alstom management took a bunch of government money and basically squandered it. As a major (former) Alsom fanboy I am disgusted. They took the company that I genuinely venerate and rammed it into the ground! #$#$%# arsh0les!

[@chromebomb]

The BART extension makes me mad but the Caltrans debacle makes my blood boil

[@watwudscoobydoo1770]

I don't understand why the Bart extension doesn't just end at Diridon station. They keep saying the Santa Clara exit "is to link up with Caltrain" but they already do that at Diridon. It seems redundant.

[@LQC2556]

The Santa Clara station is basically there to facilitate construction, since it's a big empty area that can be used to stage materials and launch the tunnel boring machine. The station won't be super useful, but it's not responsible for the majority of the cost, so it's not really causing any harm.

[@champ375]

I wish the plan was to take the SJ extension west instead of to Santa Clara. The new Caltrain schedule should take care of frequency, they don't need a stop near the new yard, and they could serve so many better sites (Valley Fair, Santana Row, Apple, De Anza). Guess VTA gotta VTA.

[@Unmannedperson]

@@watwudscoobydoo1770Diridon Station is about 24 route-miles from the South Hayward maintenance facility/storage yard. This is too far for efficient operations (think dead-heading, crew changes, etc.) so a closer yard is needed. Closest expanse of undeveloped land available to BART is next to the Santa Clara Caltrain station, less than 2 miles away. They would need to extend the tracks to it regardless, so might as well for just a bit more slap a station down and turn the tracks into revenue service. Also adds a major university to the destination list. Many many issues with the BART San Jose extension. Going to Santa Clara IMO isn't one of them.

[@jsrodman]

BART looping around to Santa Clara has some value. It allows BART to reach a MUCH larger set of jobs from the east bay, which is the current majority use pattern of the system. The number of people who would be willing to commute from say Hayward down to Diridon, then wait for a train to shuffle them up to Santa Clara is tiny, while the number who would be willing to through-run is significant. I'm not saying that's an overwhelming reason to build this way, just that it's not pointless.

[@aerob1033]

Can hardly overstate how cool that planned 2nd Ave extension in NYC would be. Finally having a full loop (via transfers) in Uptown Manhattan will make so much stuff so much more accessible to everyone.

[@TechGroupF430i]

I wish everyone was this enthusiastic. There were so many people screaming for a Bronx extension, I proposed quad-tracking north of 96th St (to allow for both 125th St crosstown and Bronx-bound branches) to calm some of them down. (I even had to remind people that there was a similar proposal south of 33rd St to have a Brooklyn-bound South 4th St branch aside from the main route to Hanover Sq w/Brooklyn-bound Red Hook provision.) Before you ask, the only specifics I've seen for the Bronx branch was a Grand Concourse reference, for which I have to assume is to connect the 4, 2/5 and B/D stations along the roadway.

[@brmnyc]

Learning that the MTA wants to extend the 2nd Avenue Subway west was a shock, in the best possible way. It will be transformative, providing easy access to the East Side from all points Uptown and the Bronx. I can only wonder however if it will be completed while I'm still alive.

[@FalconsEye58094]

I wish NY state would take a similar step because its pretty dire here, not just in the city but across the suburbs. You pay a hefty price just for a renovated basement

[@bigbabado8296]

I literally saw an "apartment" on Zillow asking for 1000 a month that was essentially a room in a basement lol

[@spatialfeelings]

I really appreciate this urbanism update series. It’s a great way to inform US citizens about ongoing projects. I can only imagine how much effort it takes to research and break down the information to be easily digestible. Thanks so much Alan! Loved your content before but this series is what has gotten me watching you a lot more regularly!!

[@JaeLn769]

With all the setbacks of high profile projects, highlighting ones that have actually finished would be fun. Indonesia HSR was also delayed and over budget but they finished it and has already started commercial service.

[@alanthefisher]

This was definitely a more negative episode but the last episode was more positive. It all depends on the week

[@TohaBgood2]

I dunno, dude. The Indonesia "HSR" is a toy vanity project. It went about 2x over budget and was 2x delayed. But it only covers 80 miles! That's the length of a subway line in the Bay Area. What was even the point in building this joke of an "HSR" line? This is one of the more pointless vanity HSR projects that are supposed to prove something to someone about the host country. I don't think that we need to platform and promote this type of crap. It should be a major embarrassment for the host country, not something that is praised in any way. If they're not going to built real useful projects then why bother?

[@semicolontransistor]

​@@TohaBgood2 80 miles if not too short especially if it is linking two major cities. Its actually longer than the Beijing-Tianjing intercity railway, Chins'a first high speed line. There is also a phase two that might see it extended across the entire island of Java. Calling it just a toy vanity project is probably a bit early.

[@TohaBgood2]

@@semicolontransistor The fact that another vanity project of this length exists does not disprove that this is not just a checkmark "Hey, we have HSR too" vanity project. We all know how much of a vanity project Chinese HSR has been. How only two lines out of almost 100 are economically sustainable by the standards that the CCP itself set. How the insnely poor construction is leading to slowdowns on entire sections of track and viaducts falling down. Just because there is more than one vanity HSR project in that region does not justify the any one of them individually. This is still, literally the same length as a subway line where I live. It's pointless "HSR" meant to "put Indonesia on the map".

[@semicolontransistor]

@@TohaBgood2 The Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway currently operates 128 trains in each direction per day and is at capacity. It is so busy that a second mostly parallel line needs to be built. If that is still a vanity project I am not sure what isn't one. If you mean that a public transit project needs to be profitable to not be viable then most of the world's public transit including most of those in the US would be vanity. I am unable to find sources about viaducts falling down. The most recent accidents of that nature were a few washed-out bridges in the recent flooding last summer in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province and one last year where a train fell off a bridge after the bridge was impacted by a dump truck. Neither accident was on the high-speed network. The reduction of speed from 350kph to 300 kph in 2012 was an economical measure and also partly to improve public trust after the Wenzhou accident which remains the most deadly accident in Chinese HSR history. Recently the Beijing-Tianjing, Beijing-Shanghai, and the northern section of Beijing-Guangzhou were returned to 350 km/h operations to improve capacity due to increased ridership. It is true the southern section of Beijing-Guangzhou from Wuhan is currently unable to operate at 350Kph due to problems with track bed settlement. Still, I suspect that it will eventually be addressed. Also just because 80 miles is the length of a subway line where you live doesn't mean that is normal worldwide. If you think spending two hours making that trip by subway is worth it then by all means call the high-speed rail project a vanity.

[@johnchadwick4222]

One thing you missed is that for HS2, the Euston terminus has also effectively been cancelled, so the lie won’t actually go into the central area, but require a change to transit several miles out. It’s also worth noting that HS2 is being built by Act of parliament and thus will require legislative time to fully cancel.

[@GojiMet86]

1) Regarding HS2, most [expensive] tunnels could have been avoided if they had just ignored NIMBYs who were "concerned" about noise. And yes, these are the same NIMBYs asking why the project is sooo overbudget. And the same people who complain about London hogging all the rail attention are happy that the North is being deprived of High Speed. 2) The MTA has come to its senses to most extenstions. I wouldn't mind the 2 Avenue line being extended across 125th Street. I also noticed that the Rockaway Line reactivation cost has gone $2 billion down (from $8 to $6 billion), but is still expensive compared to what QueensLink said the cost actually was (around $3.8B, I believe). Regarding the (W) extension to Red Hook, it was a terrible idea from the beginning. Also some good progress on the Utica Avenue line front.

[@vaska00762]

The people who say that HS2 should be scrapped to "better use the money in the north" don't actually understand what railway capacity is. The Green Party in England also opposed it due to the CO2 emissions from construction and concrete manufacturing. They kinda forgot that modal shift away from cars and planes is a thing.

[@jan-lukas]

​@@vaska00762did the green party oppose the whole project or the tunneled sections? Because those are completely unnecessary and actual CO2 spent on nothing

[@vaska00762]

@@jan-lukas Whole project

[@whyno713]

As a San Jose resident for over 40 years, it is absolutely insane that they'd actually entertain tunnel boring, but so on-brand. If we're going to waste billions on billions then get rid of BART all together and form a brand new organization to oversee the transit system adapted for standard/normal gauge rail traffic. And that 4+ mile stretch is nothing like you described, might want to hop on the 22 and 77 to see what the route actually looks like.

[@whyno713]

And that 4+ mile stretch is nothing like you describe, might want to hop on 22 and 77 to see what the route is actually like.

[@blainegabbertgabonemhofgoa6602]

The BART extension was tunneled deep due to concerns from business owners in downtown San Jose, not homeowners.

[@Rengokutm]

That’s how I remembered it, too

[@qjtvaddict]

Cancel it

[@lordgarysoh]

I've just lost my job coz homeboi Rishi here scrapped HS2, thx Rishi

[@yuriydee]

Nice, really liking this series so far!

[@SnakPak]

Can't believe hs2 is getting nixed. Here in Chicago, the Metra through running is MASSIVE and I hope that goes smoothly. Definitely keep us up to date

[@qjtvaddict]

It’s actually very easy

[@etbadaboum]

Thanks for this format! Absolutely love it.

[@basoon]

HS2 lies entirely within the western hemisphere.

[@Maxime_K-G]

I love these updates Alan! So much is happening and yet I personally only ever pick up one or two of these stories on my own. Also love your non-doomer pro-American stance, I wish more people were optimistic and proud of their country's achievements like that.

[@Soj_89]

The main reason Rishi cancelled HS2 is as a last ditch effort to get votes for the next election. This might work, because many people oppose HS2, because of the cost overruns, but also shows that the Tories cannot stick to a single project. HS2 has had so many cost overruns because of their own policies, building the entire line in one go, instead of gaining knowledge from smaller sections, doing all the station upgrades and approaches within the same project, helping communities around the line (not that that's a bad thing), and building the line to ridiculously high standards of 350km/h. They also had to take on so much costs from cancelled projects such as Crossrail 2, which was supposed to upgrade the infrastructure around Euston, driving up costs. Now that the northern stages of HS2 have been scrapped, the benefits are never going to meet the costs, unlike if it continued to Manchester, and especially Leeds, which was supposed to be getting a metro/tram system, which is absolutely never going to happen now that HS2 doesn't go there anymore.

[@Joesolo13]

The fact they're cancelling it completely instead of just prioritizing the int'l segment is goddamn absurd. They even plan to sell off acquired land Even if you don't plan to use it for a decades, don't sell it. At most lease it for storage yards or something.

[@MannyAntipov]

I want to agree but I can't with a few points you made. Firstly, I don't think it's a bad idea to build a huge amount in one go, especially as HS2 is a one-of-a-kind project in which the rail line ACTUALLY goes into a city centre, in comparison to other European/Asian nations where high speed lines terminates in the outskirts. I don't think that 350kmh running is a 'ridiculously high standard', given that HS2 would be competing against air traffic, something that has been increasing in passenger numbers recently as a result of the track capacity bleeding travellers to other modes. If the UK had built the entire project by now, we'd be in a position to eliminate and/or outlaw domestic flights that could be reached by rail, much like France. HS2 has also been spending around a decade in the consultation phase - most of the original route through the Chilterns have been tunneled to appease local residents, for instance - so there's really no point in asking the local community again since everything should be set and stone, with all the contracts given out and the assets being assembled.

[@Soj_89]

@@MannyAntipov Yes, it is a good idea to go into the city centre, unlike many Asian systems, but often European ones will just use the standard speed tracks to go into the terminus, as that is the cheapest solution, and you are not going to get significantly higher speeds while tunnelling under London, where there is already so much infrastructure to contend with, so creating a high speed approach will be far more expensive than other solutions which deliver similar benefits for less disruption. I think 350km/h is too high a standard for the UK, since all the travel times (to major cities on the core network, where there are a high number of domestic flights) will be under 3 hours even with a lower standard such as 300km/h, and 3 hours is not practical for flying, since it takes around 2 hours at the airports to check in and board, a 30 minute flight, and probably at least 30 minutes at either end to get into the city centre. Overall, a lower standard still would have made it possible to ban domestic flights between these destinations, since they are within the range that air travel would not be practical for most travellers. I agree at this point that there is no point in re-designing the route, because that would cost more delays and money, but a 'bronze-plated' standard would have meant it would have been cheaper and quicker to begin with, instead of the 'gold-plated' design which caused so many delays and so much pushback, however it is not worth re-designing the whole project for it. The one outcome where I think it will be worth changing the standards is if it takes over ten years for the northern leg to be re-started, and then they will have to ask the locals again anyway, so it would make sense to have it a quicker, cheaper scheme, which could be built before the political opposition gain power, and scrap the entire project again. Thank you!

[@dblissmn]

The Tories have never been able to stick to a project; they're driven instead, always, by short-term politics. This is how the UK got "no new manned aircraft" and thus the demise of much of Britain's aircraft industry; it's how we got Beeching and the huge cuts in the rail network; it's how the TSR2 got cancelled; how the CVA got cancelled; how the APT got given away to the Italians; how there are all kinds of strategic gaps in rail electrification; how HS1 quickly quadrupled in cost; how local government services have collapsed; how HS2 has been so grossly mismanaged

[@KyrilPG]

There's quite an uncertainty about the "350 (or 360) standard". In France, a HSR line operated at 320kph must be a line capable of smooth operations at a minimum of 352kph, as it is required by regulations. So all recent and new lines there are built to the 350/360 standard or more. The rule is to be able to operate smoothly and safely 10% faster. 300kph > 330kph, 320kph > 352kph. Following these regulations, a line operated at 350 would require a minimum of 385kph, and 360 would require a minimum of 396kph. It is unclear if HS2 is built to operate at 350, and so be capable of 385 or more, or to operate at 320, by simply being capable of 352.

[@traplover6357]

Public transit health in America will be determined if the MTA builds a subway line between Bronx to either Brooklyn or Queens 💯

[@TechGroupF430i]

Kinda wish the IBX kept the originally proposed route with the connection between The Bronx and Queens. If it wasn't for the tunnels underneath Broadway Junction and the Atlantic Crossing being a literal choke point, the whole route could've been ran like the MNR equivalent of LIRR's CTZ.

[@qjtvaddict]

Basically we are doomed moving to China don’t care anymore

[@Jaxymann]

What's even more insulting about the HS2 cancellation was that after the announcement, the British government said the money that would've been spent on HS2 would go to infrastructure upgrades for existing railways instead and named a number of projects. But literally the *next day*, the Transport Minister came out and said that those projects were just 'hypothetical examples' of what could be done. The fecklessness of the British Government is unmatched.

[@bubba842]

It's like how all that money we saved from leaving the EU went into the NHS. Oh wait, it didn't, and that was just another Tory lie. Remember £350 million a day?? The sad thing is people actually believed that.

[@mharley3791]

I really love this video. It’s so easy to be doom and gloom but it’s awesome that you let us know the good and the bad, while putting he info in context. Great transit journalism

[@lh457725]

This videos are great! Thank you for this new format!

[@dustinbranham9746]

Will California's annual review process make it easier for NIMBYs to kill housing builds in the future by placing it before decision-makers too frequently as opposed to just setting it longterm and avoiding those reviews? Maybe I'm misunderstanding what the process entails.

[@timothystamm3200]

Essentially, the government comes up for review every year if they kill housing they come up for review and then get kicked off of managing it and the state comes in and says follow these rules and you're approved automatically.

[@whynotcaptaincrunch]

The law in California is that every 8 years cities must approve a zoning plan that aligns with the state's housing goals. After 4 years, the cities are assessed to see if the housing they planned for is actually getting built. That's a new addition, since historically cities would "meet" the state's goals through dishonest and unrealistic predictions, and most of the housing they "planned" never actually got built. Now, if they fail to follow through, they lose local control over zoning and it's much easier for new housing to get built. The "annual review" for San Francisco is kind of a bit of sleight of hand. They were inevitably going to fail their next assessment, but that would've been in 4 years. Now the assessment is moved forward to next year, so it just speeds up the process of getting rid of all the bizarre local nonsense they use to slow down construction.

[@THE_BATLORD]

4:36 So speaking as a guy who does his entire job within downtown san jose: the only people you are talking about in regards to the bart extension are just the people who live at naglee park which is a super rich suburb right next to downtown. the overwhelming majority of the people who live in the section of san jose that the extension would go through are predominately working class especially in the portion east of coyote creek. There are already some new housing plans that are displacing these people as a direct consequence of the phase 2 extension. On the plus side: if the 24th street station ever gets built the eggo factory will be bartable!

[@AmurTiger]

7:52 British Columbia may go the same way if some municipalities don't reach the housing targets. Additionally the 'discussion' with neighborhood associations over the Senekw development gives an oh-so-satisfying preview to what NIMBYs getting bulldozed over in rhetorical and legal terms looks like.

[@TheRandCrews]

Finally no more suburban Skytrain stations

[@GLitchesHaxandBadAudio]

Everything is bigger in America. Especially the transit costs. Can’t have anything less than at least an entire magnitude more expensive than the rest of the world for anything. It always has to be “Buy America”, chronic institutional mismanagement, egregious over planning and non-project scope creep, rejecting standardization or International best practices, lack of institutional and state capacity, etc. etc.

[@IndustrialParrot2816]

Actually buy America is gradually starting to help get rolling stock production into the country and Siemens has really stepped to take over the void left by Budd

[@ethanheckman]

The BART plan is flawed in some ways but the core of Downtown San Jose where this project is running isn't very suburban, it should start tunneling much further along the line but a tunnel under the 20-30 story buildings of downtown still makes sense. (But it should be cut and cover)

[@aquaguy34]

Could you share the link to the slides talking about Chicago Union Station's baseline and long-term track reconfiguration? I've spent a while looking for a document like this

[@jfmezei]

On HS2: Conrary to North East corridor that is still based on legacy tracks, HS2 is building high speed tracks/tunnels/bridges on totally new alignment from within London. And while phase 2 is important, phase one connect to Birmingham which is a very large city and must not be dismissed and London-Birmingham has far more congestion/frequencies that trains fiurther north. HS2 is built to "TGV" standards (so 300kmh and higher) as opposed to the NE Corridor that is legacy tracks with a few stretches here and there seeing increased speed limits. HS2 is a massive project even for phase 1.

[@barvdw]

Sure, London-Birmingham is an important segment of the project, but its importance grows exponentially when you make it longer through fase 2. Manchester is the 6th largest UK city, Leeds the 8th largest, and HS2 would have also brought the 3rd (Glasgow), 4th (Liverpool), 7th (Sheffield), 9th (Edinburgh), 15th (Nottingham)... cities closer to London, that's probably not going to happen in the same amount, because those intercity services will have to continue on the current mainlines, which suffer from the same problems as the southern segment of the WCML, albeit to a lesser degree.

[@teknonmy7210]

re HS2: you can make anything sound expensive by repeating the numbers over and over again. Theoretically the BBC is impartial, but if they won't stop talking about the cost of HS2, of course you get hordes of idiots calling for it to get axed

[@vaska00762]

It's like the Brexit bus about sending £200m a week to the EU, suggesting it could be better spent on the NHS. It's dishonest.

[@Urbanhandyman]

Obviously a cut-and-cover approach to the four station extension in San Jose made the most sense. However, the usual NIMBY reaction and weak politicians meant choosing the most expensive option was the only real choice. So in the early 2030s San Jose, the largest city in Northern California, will have three new stations in a two-story tunnel subway system connected to the current above-ground station at Berryessa/North San Jose. The City of Santa Clara will have the remaining new station, constructed at ground level. In other words, San Jose, with a population of 1 million and an urban population of 1.8 million, will have a rapid transit train system with only four stations...in TEN years at the earliest. Amazing.

[@wtfareperfectplaces]

Much better video than the last one! Excited to see these going forward.

[@bano363]

Yoooo I was waiting for the next episode of this

[@TysonIke]

BART extension should be cut back to end at Diridon and use a normal dual bore design. The diridon station currently has a large parking lot next to it which could allow for easy cut and cover station construction. The 28th st station also sits on a parking lot. The downtown station would be more difficult but it’s one station. I know this removes the new railyard but it’s really not needed as BART’s service isn’t frequent enough to justify it.

[@utahrailfan1946]

Dual bore, yes. End the tracks at Diridon, no. The closest maintenance facility is Hayward, roughly over 20 miles away on the rails, which is too far for realistic dead head runs and crew changes. Creating a new maintenance facility in Santa Clara makes a lot of sense from a future operational sense.

[@TysonIke]

@@utahrailfan1946 i think adding a yard can wait. Remember that BART does not have a yard on the Blue line, and they turned down the Livermore extension + yard plans. Also they could just run some trains from SJ to Hayward in revenue service. I think a yard is needed to some capacity but they are currently operating the line just 5 miles shorter without it. Also a yard would force the line north onto the Caltrain corridor which makes future expansion almost impossible. Millbrae is widely regarded as a bad station due to its bad airport connections, difficult transfers, and overbuilt nature. I think that they should instead try and build a smaller yard at the existing end in Beryessa. Also with potential 24 hour service the need for end of line yards is heavily reduced.

[@Rocksock531]

Great video, and nice to see some British/European news in the mix

[@Cyrus992]

Chicago needs to build the circle line

[@thomasnewton8223]

Don’t get your hopes up any time soon. They just last week announced reduced service… they still haven’t even reached pre pandemic service. CTA’s leadership is less than incompetent

[@sauceman5498]

@@thomasnewton8223CTA Leadership is full of political appointees. You've got like 3 pastors in there.

[@thomasnewton8223]

@@sauceman5498 somehow the least corrupt public office in Chicago lmao

[@cassidy_c]

@@thomasnewton8223atleast they announced it this time

[@Cyrus992]

@@thomasnewton8223 Reduced? They still have 5 minute frequencies

[@dungeonbeast1087]

great video, didn't know about any of this (except HS2) until now!

[@megapikachu66]

The BART station is insane and the only thing I can possibly think for why they are choosing the tunnel is earthquake resistance, but that can be achieved with normal tunnels just fine.

[@vaska00762]

They're copying Barcelona Metro Line 9 design, which... like... it's dumb.

[@compdude100]

@@vaska00762 Yeah, it is dumb especially considering how long line 9 has taken to be completed.

[@Rengokutm]

IIRC It’s because there was opposition due to the disruption to the businesses that would be caused by cut-and-cover style construction, whereas a deep tunnel boring will not disrupt businesses on the surface level

[@TrumanLindsey]

@@Rengokutm That's correct. Digging up Downtown San Jose would be detrimental to the businesses already Downtown. Downtown San Jose at 1st & Santa Clara thereabouts is not suburban. Downtown is far from thriving at the moment, but tearing up Santa Clara Street would not be good.

[@pierreroulier2679]

Alstom being late on delivery? For someone that lives in France, it's not a surprise in any way. Alstom is always late, the worst I know, is the lengthening of the Lille metro, which was supposed to be delivered like 4 to 5 years ago...

[@oldunion]

I like these, I have trouble following all these loose ends, thank you!

[@TheMrMelodramatic]

Thanks for this update, great news for SF :) also lol at beard asmr at 9:19 😆

[@dwwojcik]

In theory, a single large tunnel bore can be cheaper than two one-track tunnel bores... running a TBM is more expensive the bigger it is, but that is often outweighed by the savings on additional excavation that isn't needed for stations, crossovers, etc. In BART's case it looks like they're throwing away some of that advantage with those massive open stairwells, as nice as they look. It depends a lot on the local soil/rock conditions too. And there's no doubt that building above ground is cheaper than any tunnel.

[@TechGroupF430i]

I only have two things to add to this: 1) The stairwell/escalator configuration seems akin to 28 Liberty St here in NYC. I know it's anecdotal, but it seemed okay for a commuter station with hourly service. For a heavy rail station that runs every 5-14 minutes however, this would of course be untenable. 2) I'd love to know the cost scaling of using two small TBMs versus a large one. Currently, the tunnel for CAHSR proposed through Pacheco Pass has two single-track tunnels carved via small TBMs. Since (per France and Japan) high speed double track tunnels exist, would swapping TBMs help?

[@cheef825]

I appreciate the mta actually being ambitious for once, a good sign that we need to capitalize on to build dope trains

[@IndustrialParrot2816]

Hopefully they will invest in platform screen doors

[@emjayay]

Airlines solved the shoulder problem years ago with winged headrests that are adjustable up and down.

[@HighHolyOne]

OMG, THANK YOU for validating my opinion of the Amtrak Midwest seating. Chicago to Springfield is not possible without a butt transplant. I think it's intended to get more people walking to the Cafe car, just to escape their seat, providing more revenue from coffee and snacks. I saw a worker scratching out a Federal warning label, "Not intended for human comfort."

[@jfmezei]

Important nitpick: the real Avelia Horizon (TGV-M) and the US Avelia Liberty are 2 different trains , though shared vintage for the locomotive. The Liberty succombs to "made in American" requirements with huge amount of components that are different from those of the real TGV, and different designs because FRA standards are different that interenational UIC ones. The Liberty needs to travel on legacy tracks, while the Horizon is designed for high speed lines. More importantly, the reason the loco and coaches for Libery don't match is that the coaches are not from the Avelia Horizon (double decker) but rather derived from a Pendolino design, and has an active tilting custom designed for the Amtrak train (it will have GPS and computer with knowledge of track so it can start to bank before entering each curve between Boston and Washington - assuming this works and doesn't make people sick until Antrak disable the tilting). Only one Avelia/TGV had tilting and it was for export. In France, the tracks and properly banked and tilting is strongly not recommended for true high speed trains at 300/320kmh. This is the problem with "made in America" and FRA stadards because the USA can never get porperly functioning "in production" and debiugged trains from europe, and all trians have to be customized for the USA market, and there is a huge cost to this. At least the FRA relented and allowed aluminium shells again in the standards. (the first Talgos violated the rule but were granted an exception that has since been lifted after the derailment (where traisn performed admirably, but politicians demanded the "foreign" trains be removed). Ok, now I have to read the OIG report before continuing your video to the next topic. It's all YOUR fault 🙂

[@joecauthon2988]

love that chicago union station is widening platforms, they've always seemed too narrow

[@JohnFromAccounting]

My family is originally from Leeds. Rishi Sunak is betraying the North. I don't think there are many people left willing to support the Tories. It's not that the North isn't conservative, but they're totally fed up with policies that only benefit Southerners, and leave the North to suffer. It's seriously unacceptable to cancel HS2 this far in, and shows that Sunak doesn't understand the purpose of the project at all. He's a very rich, out-of-touch elitist that nobody actually supports. Boris Johnson was wacky, but he would never have done something so stupid as cancelling the project.

[@stephensardos6418]

Love the Roy Halladay shirt you're wearing. Nice touch!

[@captainrico4948]

As a relatively new engineer for a state DOT, thank you for not criticizing me too harshly.

[@_Matt_Matt_365_]

bro i'm really loving the urbanist slop content i mean news!! all urbanist and transit channels should do stuff like this if they can afford it. flood the algo and open people's eyes!

[@everacite]

This new series is so useful 🎉

[@LQC2556]

The cost/schedule overruns and potential bad engineering decisions on the downtown San Jose BART extension are quite bad, but calling the project area "suburban" and conducive to cut-and-cover construction is definitely not accurate. The central section runs underneath a major road surrounded by highrises, as well as the VTA light rail corridor through downtown, so digging up the road for tunnel construction would cause huge amounts of disruption and likely result in extra costs. In general, it's probably best if more tunnel boring projects are undertaken in the US (when reasonable, that is), since more experience means more streamlined projects in the future.

[@ethanheckman]

Exactly! 20-30 story buildings aren't exactly "suburban"

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

the BART cost is partly environmental iirc. I had a friend who worked in one of the local transportation and civil planning offices and when she explained to me how chaotic the process of just upgrading a highway exchange in Solano county was, I was taken aback. I'm really disgusted that CalTRANS violated the labor code about retaliation but as a lifelong resident of NorCal currently suffering in Sacramento (I hate it here, the transit is a joke compared with the Bay Area) the level of political corruption in the legislature could give some dictatorships a run for their money tbh. I'm so burnt out I'm leaving and never coming back.

[@SkylarsTerribleMemes]

!i am enjoying this new weekly armchair news series very much

[@JoseTwitterFan]

It's as if the clowns from Bombardier are now running Alstom

[@timothystamm3200]

Wait, Bombardier were the clowns?

[@TheRandCrews]

@@timothystamm3200somewhat they were notorious for some defects and late deliveries in Canada and US trains, but doubt Bombardier management is on the higher team at Alstom

[@jsrodman]

Phase 1 of HS2 doesn't even connect to Birmingham. It connects to some station outside the city proper. Which made sense as a place to change trains, but doesn't make sense as a terminus.

[@notonspotify1]

The tunnel boring for BART is because nimbys didn't want any construction disruption

[@rolandolopez6319]

Please make a video going into a deep dive into how to Switzerlands rail freight logistics work. I cant find any videos explaining much about it.

[@minnesotarailfan12]

Nice shirt and great video from a fellow Phillies fan!!!

[@JoyClinton-i8g]

The BART San Jose cost is tied to business, not homeowners. BART and SJ government saw what happened in LA (parts of Wilshire Blvd have been torn-up for 10 years for the Purple Line.). Cut-and-cover construction would likely economically kill many downtown businesses. The forthcoming "super mix" of Caltrain, VTA Light Rail, Amtrak, Capital Corridor, BART, and HSR make the downtown SJ rail hub a major challenge. Running BART to the SJ Airport is a bit silly (there needs to be a stub BART line west of downtown for train storage, and the Caltrain yard is convenient. Yes, it is only a short hop to the airport from there.)

[@humtho08]

4 LaserTrains now running in long Island, metro North and Staten Island this year

[@whatsittooya69]

Please do a video examining Charlotte North Carolina

[@ZorimePati]

Im glad nimbys are getting the boot. Our housing cost is way too much and we don't need people to block projects that helps meet demand. I do Agree that we should build that blends with the area along with serving the existing common residence instead of the wealthy

[@rickyn3023]

I thought the San Jose expansion was going to be in the downtown area, where an above grade track would be unfeasible. Was this in reference to the Diridon connection? Time to read...

[@richardlo4867]

Speaking of seats. Was just on Canada's Via Rail between Toronto and Montreal, business class, not liking the relatively newly remodeled seats. It's like and office chair without enough cushion.

[@Alejandro-vn2si]

Did you bought a BART legacy fleet rail car plate? I never thought you bought one!

[@critiqueofthegothgf]

the UK is trying its absolute hardest to have public transport as bad as the US

[@The_king567]

Good

[@jdillon8360]

I'd like see BART just run elevated through downtown San Jose. It would be cheaper than tunneling and would work fine. I'm from Melbourne, Australia, where the state government is currently removing lots of level crossings from our (mostly) surface rail network. In some locations, the rail line is being lowered into a trench, but in most places they are just elevated the rail line, often for several kilometres at a stretch, crossing multiple roads and re-building multiple stations. The doom and gloom opposition campaign at the start was quite absurd, but now that many of the elevated sections have been in use for a few years, everyone can see that the result is perfectly acceptable. Melbourne is also quite low-density, similar to San Jose, so we really don't need tunneling except in the absolute core of downtown. Which is what recently happened for a new cross-city connection, but that's a separate project. The rest of the network runs above ground through mid and low density suburbia.

[@Kirbywonder2468]

would you say the pnw IBR project also is going around environmental laws? by calling it a bridge replacement when it is actually a highway widening project?

[@parkerdavis7859]

As a Braves Fan and fellow urbanist, I think I'll just be listening to this one like a podcast. I'm sure you understand.

[@J-Bahn]

Thank you, Alan! People don't say it often enough!

[@ultraskyler5459]

Wish there were updates from the northwest. Getting any information for this area is very difficult and not many on KZbin cover it.

[@alanthefisher]

There just wasn't too much to talk about this week! But I will cover NW news too

[@cheef825]

Seattle transit blog the goat fr

[@MrJimheeren]

I’m sorry Alan. But European seats are great. I’m a tall guy and I’ve never had problems with the headrest plus the ergonomic seating gives great back support. Amtrak seats are way to soft and especially after a few hours. If you get used to it you’ll find out it’s actually way more comfortable on a slightly harder seat

[@emjayay]

The big old reclining Amtrak seats are not very soft though. Just wide, flat and recline far because of the space between seats. New trains will have narrower seats because of having wider aisles.

[@MrJimheeren]

@@emjayay wider isles are more wheelchair accessible, it’s taking and giving. But knowing how overweight Americans can be wide seats might be important for passengers

[@davidsixtwo]

I wish the MTA would give the QueensLink and IBX more love. Way cheaper than the SAS with the potential to reach way more riders.

[@irishdc9523]

It's ironic that the Tories are scrapping HS2 when it was the Tory Boris Johnson who proposed it

[@vaska00762]

Boris had a hard on for big infrastructure projects, for some reason. He wanted to built a bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland, until a feasibility study officially said it's never going to work. Boris was London Mayor at the time of Crossrail being greenlit, so it's not like it's unusual for him to support these sorts of things.

[@TheBespectacledN00b]

Point of order, this came from the back end of New Labour.

[@irishdc9523]

@@TheBespectacledN00b Red Tories

[@leopard3c]

This is not a conservative problem, this is an Anglo American problem. I am conservative and I´m 100% for trains.

[@The_king567]

Good we need to get rid of trains

[@Mike__B]

The thing with the BART extension is yeah San Jose is suburban but with a population of about a million it still is a lot of people, and that's a lot of NIMBY voices speaking up. I'm not certain ditch and cover tunnel would work without being incredible disruptive, it would only be viable under major streets which again would be disruptive as all hell for a very long time. And as expensive as it sounds I feel like tunnel boring is the only feasible way to do it they don't go above ground (which they absolutely would not do under any circumstance).

[@JohnAlot]

I'll probably be dead by the time they complete the Q train extension to 125th St A train but...DAMN! would that be amazing. Upper West & Upper East sides may as well be in different states since only busses cross Central Park. Only one transfer to go see my sister would be amazing.

[@mrlucasftw42]

Can it ever truly be more expensive than you thought when everybody expects cost overruns these days?

[@destroyer_fletcher7415]

Nearly three weeks later, sorry about the world series. Love from NYC

[@raakone]

Sounds like the San Jose extension was going to be done in the style of Barcelona's Line 9, from the pictures it's showing. Yup, overblown for that kind of neighborhood. Elevated would be better, even if it wouldn't look as nice.

[@thetransbay]

Maybe this was a slip but I don't think the inefficiency of SFPD is related to its slowness at building housing.

[@stevens1041]

BART San Jose was good to go, until the cut and cover technique was abandoned and changed at the last minute, mostly by angry businesses downtown that believed it would destroy their business. Its not true that San Jose is a giant suburb. The infill has been going on for a while throughout San Jose. The BART to downtown, upgraded Caltrain, plus High Speed Rail, was all meant to be a catalyst that would increase development, especially in downtown and midtown areas of San Jose. Beyond that, BART itself has been plagued with problems. The system is dirty, poorly maintained, and uses proprietary equipment. I think a lot of the Bay Area is growing tired of BART with all its problems--enthusiasm for any BART expansions has ebbed. Unrelated but I wish San Jose could instead make a lot of needed improvements to VTA light rail, aka the worst rail system in America, according to some. San Jose messed up by investing everything into just BART to downtown, at the expense of making VTA a viable system (its terrible, I rode it a lot in my life)

[@davidjackson7281]

Why's VTA so bad?

[@stevens1041]

@@davidjackson7281 Just poor routes and land use around stations. This a lot of stations in the middle of a huge expressway, with massive parking lots adding even more distance to office towers. Plus its at grade for most of the system meaning frequent stops at traffic lights and such.

[@gildone84]

Amtrak has some culpability here too with the Alstom situation. The OIG report also highlights a lack of oversight on the part of Amtrak.

[@sterlinghartley2165]

HS2 being cut back again isn't a shocker to Northerners as it basically law that it will happen. They cut our transit projects, cut then back to be much less useful, and create an economic system so London centric is cause London to have huge housing problems as well as creeping into anywhere vaguely commutable in The North. A new build in my village goes for £400K cause it near the M1, my old built isn't even £200k with just as much space indoors and more outdoors. HS2 had also had the Eastern Leg (The bit to Leeds) already cut the Golborne Link that would let trains continue north to Scotland off HS2, making so many benefits already squandered. Another dick move was making it an England and Wales project making Wales on the hook for £5 Billion of the cost, when it gets no track in its country and only benefits because the country can't fix that its mainline isn't inside its boarders. It'd be like say you had to go. It'd be like Philly to Pittsburg only be possible via DC, it's be so stupid to not let them build that connection inside Pennsylvania.

[@graythewolf6096]

Im concerned that Metra's Coradias are going to have issues on introduction like the Avalias now.

[@maas1208]

Fun Fact: Metra actually cancelled the Battery F40PH plan and instead ordered Battery Electric Multiple Units built by either Alstom or Stadler

[@brandonk.4864]

As a transit-hungry San Jose resident this is really disappointing. Why can’t we have good engineers here?

[@jamesgilbart2672]

Interesting comments on governments messing up transit projects in different countries. Yes, cancelling Phase 2 of HS2 in England made the huge investment made so far pointless. I feel that the HS2 project was over-specified such as very long tunnels out of London, huge new station complexes and long viaducts but to stop half way creates a huge white elephant. The Channel Tunnel and its high speed link (HS1) were expensive but they are now great assets.

[@Fran7842]

Who are the Phillies? I've never heard of them

[@tcniatcniatcnia]

Quick question, is it possible to suggest topics?

[@Theguy493]

Not sure why Amtrak decided to work with Alstom again considering the shit storm that was the HHP-8

[@Lux-h4h7h]

Cool!

[@SirKenchalot]

It was a Conservative government who passed the bill for HS2; the problem is mainly that they didn't sell it well, environmentalists made sure far more of it was built in tunnels than it needed to and the country is now broke after Covid etc. Those genius environmentalists protestors now got less railway and several road widening schemes, so good job! BTW, the 'Conservaitive' party isn't anywhere close to conservative by US or any other standard as with most political parties, it's just a name at this point.

[@Ry_TSG]

Yeah you’re not blaming this on “environmentalists” when the tories are explicitly pro car and anti transit/anti city. They are the ones in power and are directly responsible for how this panned out.

[@flargus7919]

"BTW, the 'Conservaitive' party isn't anywhere close to conservative by US or any other standard as with most political parties, it's just a name at this point." It is difficult to compare conservative parties in the West to the US standard, as the GOP has jumped so far to the right in terms of social policy that they'd pass for a far-right party in most Western countries. Economically, though, they're not all that different. They're still going on about small government (until they are the government, of course), obsessed with tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, crazy about balancing budgets and reducing debt (though only when they are not in charge, because they're very spend-happy when they are in charge), deregulation on behalf of big corporations, etc.

[@vaska00762]

Conservative Party policy is now "why build a train from London to Manchester, when you can fly there in 30 minutes"

[@brianwithoutay2291]

@@flargus7919 - it sounds like the conservative parties in the UK are playing catch-up to match the ignorance of American conservatives. UK conservatives are going heavier on the culture war aspects, bitching about trans rights, promoting conspiracy theories about 15-minute cities and warning that English cities might somehow start to "look like San Francisco" (as if that were to be a bad thing).

[@The_king567]

Wrong Europe and America don’t get their own form of conservatism or left-wing or right wing. I use the same one I use the same political system read a book.