Could the eastern leg of HS2 be scrapped?

Ministers have insisted that levelling-up is "infused in everything the Government does", despite the expected decision to scrap part of the eastern leg of the HS2 rail link.
It's thought the announcement will be made on Thursday about the proposals for the line between the Midlands and Leeds.
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[@WhichDoctor1]

Hs2 should have started being built from the north down. So that when it was inevitably cancelled the northern cities would at least have had better connections between eachother.

[@hillyozz209]

Yes, agree!

[@greghallett4410]

Why should we build anything for poortherners?

[@cheddarfodder]

Scrap the lot. Pointless project.

[@emanueldobos8452]

And your opinion is based on what? “Big expensive project bad”. Look at other industrialised countries’ level of investment, the UK is screaming for updates to it’s infrastructure, regardless of climate change or jobs or any other direct benefits it may have. Look at the HGV driver shortage - it would’ve been a lot easier to manage if we had more cargo rail capacity and less demand for road haulage!!

[@kirishima638]

@@emanueldobos8452 HS2 doesn't address that at all. We should be upgrading our existing lines and investing in new stock.

[@onlinefriend3889]

@@kirishima638 HS2 is an upgrade to the existing railway network

[@richiesquest3283]

@@kirishima638 Even dumb and dumber can work out upgrading existing lines does not increase capacity.

[@joeb7640]

Not pointless the UK has one of the slowest rail systems in Europe

[@sbatty65227]

A project that is 40 years too late and as the pandemic has proven a redundant one as well.

[@philtucker1224]

Yes! Now that every house (could) now have live video conferencing at any time, travelling to an office is already history.

[@KingKong187911]

No point commuting to London when I can work from home much more efficiently and save much needed money

[@Sabrina-bc1yp]

Scam project from the start, which had no demand.

[@andrewoliver8930]

They got the Northern vote, now they can ignore them. Leveling up? Johnson hasn't got a clue where the North is and he couldn't give a toss.

[@zane6505]

This country is sooo behind the rest of the world. Hong Kong in 1997 was more developed than UK is today. UAE has gone from a desert to one of the most advanced cities in the world. If we stop wasting BILLIONS on missiles to drop in middle east and actually invested in the UK instead, our quality of life would be far better.

[@mrdemocracy7106]

Many northerners did not want H2 through their lands. Well done Boris common sense at last. It's good news many homes and green land farming land and wildlife land has now been save from destruction of this ridiculous unnecessary project. All that was needed was a upgrade of existing lines and better service. Funny how most of labour was against the whole H2 project now they are shouting betrayal.typical labour.

[@andrewoliver8930]

@@mrdemocracy7106 Johnson promised to build it. Same old, same old from him.

[@aley921]

Over promise under deliver

[@_Too_Late]

£150 billion to get assylum sleepers from London to Birmingham 20 minutes faster

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

Gas lighting again. Daily Mail videos are that way.

[@stephenbrown4211]

I wonder why Sly have turned off comment on The Sanctimonious witch breakfast report…..

[@richiesquest3283]

To scrap the eastern leg of HS2 will be viewed in the future as a major mistake.

[@fromthisposition7125]

We don’t need HS2 in the connected age. It’s a vanity project from the early 2000s. Bloated, out of touch and disruptive, just like Boris.

[@steveparker8065]

The thing I love about HS2 is that it's a good way to waste taxpayer money and avoid investing in the North, the NHS or resolving the working poverty that 1/3rd of the workforce live in...

[@edwardmortimer2150]

This is getting bloody ridiculous, what they should of just done is completely re build the WCML, upgrading some parts and building new parts, would of been less expensive, less disruptive, better benefits and less stupid!

[@jackjoyce1744]

The wcml is already at its maximum capacity so we need a new line to increase capacity.

[@Alto53]

Less disruptive? Nonsense.

[@mannydekhar-antipov9954]

The WCML was rebuilt in the late 90s/early 00s, it only took eight years before the capacity once again reached full. By building a completely separate rail line dedicated to express services, this can get rid of huge gaps in the timetable for local and regional trains, as well as hauling more goods by rail rather than road. HS2 is being built for several decades, possibly 100 years, not for the next year or the year after.

[@edwardmortimer2150]

@@mannydekhar-antipov9954 yes this is what i used to say, but after covid, and tbh maybe even before covid it is a just better solution in my opinion, build new bits (like they are doing with hs2) and rebuild other bits. A healthy mix between the two. But this aside if they don't build the eastern leg, it wont have the same effect or economic benefits as if they did.

[@edwardmortimer2150]

@@Alto53 well it would be bloody dam cheaper!

[@cameronallan5624]

Dear BBC. Please stop stop advertising HS2 to simply save a few minutes. It is about extra capacity. This has never ever been explained properly.

[@richardschofield2201]

Some idiot felt that the public wouldn't understand or care about the reliability and capacity for local journeys and freight, but we would understand and care about journey times. Pitty.

[@Dear_Mr._Isaiah_Deringer]

The future of mobility is hiking.

[@stevenhoward3358]

It was never on the cards. If it was they would have started in Leeds and Manchester to Birmingham because we all know that levelling up really is word soup for another travel link for the southeast.

[@billwhite8479]

The whole thing should never have been started. Should have just upgraded existing infrastructure.

[@andyzillla4133]

Absolute joke. It will be out dated before its finished.

[@Dan-jg7zl]

it wont ever get finished.

[@petertherepeatermustard3231]

other countries building Maglev 500kmh tech, we building something that goes slightly faster than an inter-city for 90BILLION, yep that's the incompetence of British Civil Servants

[@bagzybaker]

Once its done it will be out of date, with added cheap parts and fragile infrastructure

[@davidcurry4433]

It was the biggest mistake starting HS2 at London, this project should have started at Newcastle, heading two directions, West to Carlisle & South to Leeds..

[@Dan-jg7zl]

I can this is line being a fragmented piece of crap. This line wont ever get finished and it will go down in history as one of the biggest project flops ever.

[@Chris1553]

What a colossal waste of OUR money !

[@ssss-df5qz]

If the people all agreed to stop paying tax, vanity projects like this would not exist.

[@wavydavy9816]

After the last two years you'd think that maybe someone might try and change the focus so that people don't _need_ to travel all over the place so much in the future, rather than building a train track that will already be antiquated by the time it gets finished? Surely in the same timeframe we could just as easily (and much more cheaply and environmentally friendly) reduce the demand on the current system and update what we have already for the diehards? 🤷‍♂️

[@thejuanfandangoclub]

What a load of twoddle!

[@jackdeith5097]

Everyone has been v clear we dont wamt or need it Guess where bbc main building is moving to, i didnt think they had that much influence but bo one else is going to benefit from hs2 really

[@nuttall47]

The eastern leg was was ludicrous from the start. Need the Liverpool to Leeds building. The fact all these places are Labour strongholds and the people who have all the inconvenience and hardly any benefit vote Conservative obviously has a big effect.

[@mattyukgbangerbin739]

Jesus none of the people interviewed can string a sentence together

[@folksinger2100]

HS2 does nothing for the people of Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. For example it is not possible in Wales to journey from North Wales to South Wales without the largest part of the journey being routed through england. Scotland is still waiting for the link to Carlisle from Tweedbank to be opened bringing the Border Railways back as a through route. Cornwall is still at the end of a slow line. Fastest time from Glasgow to London is around 4hrs 30min, Penzance to London over 5hrs 30min, Holyhead to Swansea journey a time of around 7 hours..

[@KingKong187911]

Pandemic has taught me travelling to the office is a scam when I can work effectively from home! And save money! And afford a nice house in the north. Stuff the rat race to London!

[@jockwilson221]

It was always a red herring.

[@jamie5103]

Get rid of the Royals and get ya politicins that were el;ected to do there jobs u might save a few more quid to pay for it

[@Neon_guyy]

This is a actually so bad for the environment I collect waste oil from Hs2 and the amount of green and brown lands they have taken away is disgusting.

[@chappy2121]

There's many things bad for the environment that fly under the radar. Refrigeration for example. But the whole thing is just operation shaft the poor people anyway 😕

[@pedrosantana4960]

Why don't they bring back all cities Trams that disappear when the cars came to kill the world

[@Mitch1three]

Do tax payers get money back.. if not fkin finish it

[@kirishima638]

Total waste of money. It's vanity project. We're going to end up with a fraction of the line stopping just outside London at many times the cost.

[@yetidodger6650]

it's not even for vanity, it's a fraud project designed to line the pockets of both contractors and ministers.

[@vtechead1]

Got to laugh at Starmer accusing Boris of going back on his promise regarding HS2. A few years back Starmer was against HS2, and now he’s bleating on about sections being cancelled. And he had a second job years ago too.

[@enlightened4382]

I hope this doesn’t mean the Boris bridge from Scotland to Northern Ireland is nt scrapped as well.

[@pip1723]

So much for levelling up they've got the northern vote and a 80 seat majority .

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

We never learn, vote for them and then they break promises.

[@JayJay-loz]

Most countries around the world have a better rail/public transport than us in the UK is embarrassing to say the least.

[@ajsmoth3509]

And the north keep voting Tory 😭😭😂😂😂😂😂

[@bennickss]

At this point we’re better off just handing rail operations over to SNCF or JR, they know how to run a proper railway

[@andrewappleyard796]

Same has it always ...been Northern people get forgotten again gain when it come too the torys , we pay our taxes like everyone else just for our hard earn money to get spent either in.london or somewhere down south

[@martindornan1667]

It's Not just the Westminster Tories. For decades Westminster has favoured investment in London and the south east of England to the detriment of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the rest of England.

[@Daniel-wb4lr]

I'm sure it has, near me they're building warehouses on its planned path

[@rockerjim8045]

Another broken promise from the shambles of a PM

[@SMSBJM1981]

Is this a lot of crap talking points with little substance.

[@mrknowitall126]

Flippinell they still building this train track

[@sandman8993]

It should go through Carlisle all the way to Glasgow to help the real north out!

[@gyp3xp48]

First they don't want it, now they wan't it. Make up your bloody mind!

[@michaelfrankie8443]

It's something that is not needed

[@noodlyappendage6729]

It should all be scrapped.

[@kiefergrossest4636]

Will help the drug runners get around faster then before

[@mrlover4310]

With billions wasted government should be prosecuted and imprisoned for wasting hard-workers taxpayer money

[@Itsalgz333]

They better remove everything after there business collapses and fill in the tunnels . I bet they leave it all behind abandond

[@RyanTheHero3]

The WHOLE THING should be scrapped. Saving 10 MINUTES of journey time? Clearly, worth the abhorrent amount of money that was funnelled into it. No doubt it will be insanely expensive as well, so the only people who will ever want to use it is the rich to take refuge from us peasants sitting in standard.

[@ridemx77]

Good

[@philc8544]

Andy erm durnham.

[@zabdas83]

We don't need it, we don't want it & no one wants to spend 60/70/80 billion £s on it either!

[@christopher9727]

John 3.16-21

[@Happy_Shopper]

'leveling up' is so obviously just a buzzword with no substance behind it. The Tori's couldn't even describe what it means

[@djdrift71]

Who wants to go to Leeds? Get less for murder

[@Theorangeman.]

Half of these interviews consist of erm erm erm erm erm. Spit it out

[@fatman126]

The North voting for BoJo 👉🤡

[@rtk3543]

Scrap the whole thing, a sheer waste of money.

[@manjinderdhesi9403]

They should take the hs2 into Scotland and spend another 250 billion lol

[@joeb7640]

It should be connected to Edinburgh but everything is so overbudget here

[@madebymonkeys5641]

The whole thing is a monumental waste of time and money...

[@chaddonaldson9538]

These interviewees were poo haha

[@robertbenton1367]

👎🏻

[@craveztv4457]

Lol

[@TrailBlazingTalesTV]

Scrap the whole thing 👍

[@mannydekhar-antipov9954]

Scrapping the project would be the worst case scenario.

[@TrailBlazingTalesTV]

@@mannydekhar-antipov9954 how so? I’m not sure how it would work either way. But people don’t really want it or need it, and I can’t imagine how much it’s costing the taxpayer. Most of which will never even use it.

[@pamcollins3666]

qwq

[@user-ih6vs3eg3o]

Bring back maggie!

[@kso8554]

Will a new train HS2+ from London to Edinburgh through Leeds a more direct and few-stops route save carbon footprint and time more than old route? What can we learn from the latest and trustworthy technology from Japan? The cost, energy consumption, ecological influence, the ease of maintenance... Hope that it can be built before the son or maybe grandson of Harry Potter to go to Hogwarts. Let's expect a new train on the 9 3/4 platform if there is magic.

[@martindornan1667]

HS2 to Leeds has been cancelled, the connection between HS2 and the West coast main line was cancelled and they are now talking about cancelling the HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester.

[@SickPrid3]

Govt should just say "f u all, we are doing it because if we don't we will never ease any congestion"

[@Yu-hx5jo]

DUDE JUST GET THE CHINESE OR THE FRENCH TO BUILD THE DAMN THING.B

[@TIMSTURBO]

But 34 billion for Track and Trace that didn’t work…”no problemo” 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@pabllo2004]

Well said 👏

[@thebigoriginal8607]

For a virus with a 98% chance of survivability

[@thebigoriginal8607]

"Conservative" government btw guys

[@zabdas83]

That was a looting operation. We did that money go, it didn't go on track & trace!

[@tombennetts5207]

What a balls up and waste of money from the start!! The Japanese had this technology in the sixties. We really are turning into the laughing stock of the world. 😔

[@buddha1736]

Keep voting conservatives it’s great watching the Benny hill show. 😀

[@richardschofield2201]

The Japanese bullet trains top out at 200mph but HS2 will be 225mph. But that's besides the point, HS2 is needed to create capacity for local journeys and freight. The speed is just a perk.

[@oldskoolordie]

China would have had this done in a couple of years

[@richardschofield2201]

@@oldskoolordie but the earthworks would have subsided after a couple of years

[@clivebennett7985]

Turning into a laughing stock? We're already there aren't we?

[@kama3422]

Along with the decision of Mps to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, HS2 also has to be up there with the top 3 biggest waste of taxpayer's hard earned money in Britain. These 3 issues have had a negative impact on British citizens and have also wasted over a trillion pounds of hard earned tax payer's money by many previous and current governments.

[@kimjongun391]

In China this would've been fully finished 5 years ago.

[@WeWuzSqueebles]

And would've fallen apart in half that time.

[@br6210]

@@WeWuzSqueebles Chinese roads and plastic goods are 2 different things entirely

[@Coquillages]

That would have been an even longer commute to London though.

[@mannydekhar-antipov9954]

The Chinese have a much larger population, so a larger workforce. Plus, their environmental standards in building infrastructure projects are nothing to be proud of, as more machinery leads more carbon emissions being pumped out into the atmosphere.

[@accessallexperiences4719]

Bet they won't cancel cross rail 2 ,

[@martindornan1667]

For decades Westminster has favoured investment in London and the south east of England to the detriment of Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the rest of England.

[@matthewcattermole5718]

The whole thing isnt about saving 10 mins here and 10 mins there, the media have grabbed hold of that message. The project is about lifting services from existing track and putting the faster services on the new lines. The old system will then have the room to introduce more local services and encourage growth around that alongside linking up with the HS2. Yes it costs billions to do but the benefit to the public (even those who do not use HS2) would be massive.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Exactly. It's about capacity. Freight and local trains on two tracks, sharing with fast trains have not altered that much since the C19th. Fiddling with existing tracks only leads to years more of disruption.

[@walkwithmeASMR]

That was their plan all along.

[@Dirpitz]

So as we signed a trade deal with the Japanese, why not just have JR build a Shinkansen, it would cost less, be more efficient, run on time, be faster and safer. Not to mention boosting trade.

[@alien4422]

It would only run on time, if it had Japanese rail staff.

[@johnmasters504]

Just scrap it now

[@simonclarke7309]

The Northern councils are Levelling Up with cutbacks from westminster

[@sandman8993]

The exact reason why the north of England and Scotland feel left behind by the south

[@oldskoolordie]

Building back worser

[@piotrgxrp9630]

Hahaha and money gone.... Joke

[@bishopwhite1822]

Will there be a refund?

[@simonclarke7309]

To save a few minutes. Under 2 hrs passing Birmingham from Liverpool to London anyways. So cutting down to 1hr 21 mins, London Birmingham, less distance seem an expensive deal.

[@demonkey123]

It’s nice that the people of Manchester chose somebody with a brain injury to be mayor 🤤

[@whoisme678]

Im wondering since the esst Midlands to Leeds cut back and costs spiraling, whether a report of some kind will later shown money misappropriated? Why not finish a project? £ 30 billion now £100 billion , so who did the costing?

[@GriffMJ]

..."fears"?

[@gavmackenzie]

If it’s not near London, it’s of little value

[@joshuahalla.k.a.controlla6333]

Wow.

[@my_carp_life3424]

Scrap the whole lot

[@TheGlassman14]

The whole damn thing should have been scrapped. Why does anyone need to travel anymore when we have Zoom? All those farms, forests, housed, fields. All gone

[@onlinefriend3889]

Working from home won't reduce demand for commuting. Instead, the future is more part-time working at the office and part-time at home, so the passenger numbers are going to return to normal levels. On top of that, leisure travel has been on the increase as more people are finding more free time, so long-distance travel is going to be more demanding.

[@stephenhill8790]

this has just made certain people a lot of money from the tax paying public it was a joke from day one china has built over a 10,000 miles of HS track in the time this joke has been going on ,and there has been tracks laid in africa tanzania zambia nigeria lagos ethiopia kenya malaysia in the time this so called advanced nation has built a few miles

[@lewishawkins5085]

East West Rail is better as they are building on an old route which hasn’t been used in 50 years This will link Oxford- Cambridge a vital link and cheaper than hs2 🚅 Which is good

[@johng.1703]

doesn't "level up" al mean to smash down any higher parts to the lowest part?

[@suzyqualcast6269]

One can see Ratcliffes chimneys, in clear weather, easily, from Fabric (Ashover ) Rock, Derbyshire.