HS2 Project Update, December 2024

[@CB-gc1me]

Brilliant update. Remember all the Elizabeth line detractors? Yeah, I barely do either. These are the transformative infrastructure projects we need to continuously invest in. They make and secure British talent and provide generational livelihood improvements.

[@hx0d]

yes and they all cried about it being a white elephant 🤣 its paid for itself within 2 years of operation

[@Joe69420blazing]

I’m not against projects like this. Just a shame this company and the government are so incompetent they go billions over budget and years out of the timeline to make a worse outcome.

[@fndjfgsdk]

@@hx0dThe Elizabeth line has not paid for itself. It covers its operating costs but it’ll be about 50 years before it covers its construction costs. But it is profitable.

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@hx0d 6 years ahead in passenger numbers. So popular, they are having to order new trains for it and increase capacity. An they also having to spend money to fix the Tories decision to "cut costs" on the project.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Ha! Ha! Ha! The HS2 project is nothing more than bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious intestate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. PM Rishi Sunak was right to cancel the Phase 2 extensions to Manchester and Leeds as the costs would become even absurd than what they already are. Unlike other MPs, former PM Sunak knows how to count. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@JT-nr2ss]

Fantastic work, its so cool to see the regular and high quality updates. When this is done, let's get it finished to Manchester and Leeds!

[@stocktonjoans]

that is hands down the least "cool" thing ever, don't use words if you don't know what they mean, you clearly have internet access, use it and go look at a dictionary

[@toby.maximillian]

The line will definitely inevitably be extended later on to these. In the meantime, trains will just have to run on conventional tracks after Birmingham and the interchange station.

[@MrRaisin56]

@@stocktonjoans Alright Karen

[@stocktonjoans]

@@MrRaisin56 another fool using words they don't know the meaning of, education standards are atrocious these days

[@orphansock8439]

Tories flogged off double-quick the land that had been acquired for that, so sadly no chance.. The engineering is fantastic, but at the same time the project is a tragedy. Mainland Europe is criss-crossed by a vast high speed rail network, Britain demonstrates its inability to build infrastructure on time and anywhere near budget.

[@lfcloyal8284]

Pity it didn't get to Manchester and Leeds 😕...the whole point of HS2 was to bring the Cities mentioned closer to the Capital the North wasn't even mentioned 😮

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

That's not the choice of the builders, blame the politicians who paid for the land and the plans and then cut the scope.

[@PeterGaunt]

Yes, we all already know that. What is the point of continually repeating it?

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

@@PeterGaunt because it is a coments section, and a taxpayer has a right to know how £100 billion is going to be spent. (thats 100 x one thousand million)

[@matthewfard2196]

2:35

[@Senna_Folo]

The politicians don't care about the north, It's just London

[@heckmacbuff]

Wonderful! Build it to Scotland and it'll really be worth it.

[@Joe69420blazing]

It’s not wonderful at all. And why would they go to Scotland when they can barely reach Birmingham in over a decade

[@heckmacbuff]

@@Joe69420blazing on your bike Joe, you can make it!😃

[@siphotheguy1870]

We built Hadrian's Wall for the Scots.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Ha! Ha! Ha! The HS2 project is nothing more than bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious intestate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. PM Rishi Sunak was right to cancel the Phase 2 extensions to Manchester and Leeds as the costs would become even absurd than what they already are. Unlike other MPs, former PM Sunak knows how to count. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The HS2 project is nothing more than bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious interstate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@1978themacca]

Phase 1: get project signed off on the promise of levelling up the north. Phase 2: spend all the money down south. Phase 3: cancel northern leg due to over spend down south. Phase 4: slap each other on the back for shaving off c30mins to the existing journey, that’s about a BILLION per minute saved. Brilliant update, yes, brilliant 👏🏼

[@stephenoxf]

Agreed for the most part, but who is taking 70 minutes to get from London to Birmingham? Unnecessary hyperbole just completely ruins the comment

[@Dmac_92]

​@@stephenoxfIt's not too much of an exaggeration. 90 mins New street>Euston

[@kitkatklan1]

was never about speed. It's about capacity. The route has been over capacity for decades

[@gregjalepeno6769]

Yawn are you that desperate for a naff anti-south narrative? You are obviously dangerously clueless about the project and the recent politics. HS2 was meant to be an entire new National Network to reduce capacity bottlenecks on the West Coast Line while also anticipating the upcoming bottleneck on the East Coast Line over the next decade, hence the Y configuration. The fact that it was a complete new national network created a healthy Cost Benefit analysis which generated cross-party support for over a decade. Obviously it was going to start between Birmingham and London as that would release the most capacity on the West Coast Line for improving local services in the Midlands and also is a sensible place to start for a Y network, it just happens to be very densly populated with higher land costs. Did you ask yourself what happened in Politics to destroy the Cross-Party concensus? Clearly Not. The politics that chopped away at the network to reduce its cost benefit gains had nothing to do with "build costs in the South" (all large projects including the Motorway network have cost overruns becauses it is impossible to give politicians the low costs they demand at the beginning for projects that take many years, even decades, note how these cost-overruns were basically just normal inflation projected into the 2030s by the media) but everything to do with an ideology against building any public transport infrastructure full stop (why do you think Sunak tried to spin in his pea-brained axe as an appeasment for road potholes in the North and road bypasses that had already been funded?!). The spin machine from the Rich Persons Alliance, I mean Tax Payers Alliance didnt appear out of nowhere it was a careful orchestrated campaign that was given power because the general public (particularly those in the North) voted in a government full of MPs alligned to extremist neo-liberal economics under the guise of the obsession with Brexit. Boris who actually supported HS2 and rebooted the Northern PowerHouse as the "end of Austerity" chopped of the Eastern leg as an appeasment to that very extermist neo-liberal economic fringe of his party because he couldnt control them, this is how Truss got in and who Sunak tried to appearse yet again by axing the Manchester leg of the network, because he was terrified of Nigel Farrages Reform party that is basically funded by the same Neo Liberal extremists... and look who votes for them, hint look up North..

[@gregjalepeno6769]

@@stephenoxf it was all b.s, the death by a thousand cuts was nothing to do with "cost overruns" for a project that was budgetted over multiple decades but everything to do with political ideology of which the people of the North should take equal if not more blame.

[@TheLiamster]

This is amazing but I’m so sad that phase 2 was cancelled. I hope it gets revived one day

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Ha! Ha! Ha! The HS2 project is nothing more than bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious intestate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. PM Rishi Sunak was right to cancel the Phase 2 extensions to Manchester and Leeds as the costs would become even absurd than what they already are. Unlike other MPs, former PM Sunak knows how to count. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@YourboyMusti]

If this was China, this and the cancelled tracks would've be done already

[@Ruuu-b1m]

But the UK isn't. Says everything

[@megafilmshow]

Along with 80,000 dead slave labourers

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

I prefer to live in the UK rather than China, do you?

[@Milkdromida]

China is bad example because of cheap labour, but the Japanese could do it cheaper and faster (and probably make the trains faster too).

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

​@Milkdromida The Japanese came here in the 1980's and couldn't make it pay working to UK restrictions so they packed up and went home.

[@woodinmyblazer1415]

I work on this project and i am very proud of

[@thesalopian1389]

A great roundup , and well done in mentioning the capacity benefits. Let’s hope it’ll be sooner rather than later that it progresses to the north. Well done HS2.

[@Denis.Collins]

I am all for rail expansion, but this is a carefully scripted PR speech and nothing else.

[@matthewhudson9445]

It won't be expanded north because the tories have already sold off the land acquired in the North to their private business mates at cut prices

[@matthewhudson9445]

It won't be expanded north because the tories have already sold off the land acquired in the North to their private business mates at cut prices

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The HS2 project is nothing more than a bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious interstate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

dont hold your breath, it is not even due to reach Euston until 2040

[@jakethadley]

Drove by a bridge/viaduct northwest of Amersham the other day, great to see the new infrastructure! Can't wait to see the first trains on this. And glad it's going to Euston too :)

[@stocktonjoans]

you need a hobby mate, trainspotting is lame enough, but getting excited by this bullshit is just weird

[@Zoemaestra]

@@stocktonjoans Says the guy doing magic tricks in his parents basement

[@Joe69420blazing]

Did you enjoy how it’s ruined the whole area?

[@SpaceDroplet]

You don't see new infrastructure in the north though

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The HS2 project is nothing more than bizarre British vanity project which has now morphed into a proverbial white elephant. My God, £66 billion (US $82b) for just 230km of track! This equates to staggering £287 million ($360m) per km. And you wonder why neither Australia, Canada nor the United States has ever bothered with HSR over serious interstate distances. The economic, environmental and social benefits are just not there. Everything has a cost. The costs of HSR are not worth it most of the time.

[@user-zh9kc7tw4n]

Fantastic news, just need to continue up to Manchester and across to Leeds, just that 50mile section takes 1h 20m today longer than it will take from London to Manchester

[@LeeKellyLK]

This should have been done first as it could have been done quicker and be start generating money and it is needed more than the London route.

[@matthewhudson9445]

It won't be expanded north because the tories have already sold off the land acquired in the North to their private business mates at cut prices

[@djs98blue]

It’ll eventually happen but the use of hs2 will determine when.

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

Dont worry, with the train only going to Old Oak Common, the new journey on HS2 from Euston to Birmingham will take longer than the current journey from Euston to Birmingham

[@smorris12]

The problem with Britain is a national desire to avoid doing the job. "Designed to deliver resilient rail travel" - this sentence alone echoes the thousand strata of management, the consultation groups, the money creaming subcontracting subcontractors and the completely disconnected directors in this or any large project. It's a miracle there's anyone actually building anything.

[@TangoVictorSierra]

Exactly. "Resilient rail travel", wtf does that even mean?

[@andrewtrimble9770]

These cynical and negative comments were also said about the Elizabeth Line construction. That has been a success and made a major impact on resilient rail travel in London. Not all major infrastructure projects are as a much as a disaster as you convey.

[@margin606]

Great comment

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

Great comment. And those accusing this realistic thinking of "cynicism" might really want to look into exactly how this £100 billion has been spent

[@primemutton]

@@andrewtrimble9770 yes but that project was actually completed, and its usage has already been more than heavy enough to justify its construction. What is it about British politicians and people constantly opposing infrastructure improvements

[@nathangabriel2707]

Why does it take centuries to build a high speed rail line in a small Country like UK?. Nimby culture as well as lazy myopic Politicians and business people are the reasons for this.

[@u1zha]

As well as protecting drinking water, bats species and historical landscapes. As well as worker safety. And a good deal of overbuild to extract more monies too.

[@rhysjaggar4677]

Corruption. Britain's corruption is endemic, organised by Establishment criminals.

[@chat4783]

Also, most tunnel are unnecessary, as most of them are under the Conservative constituency. Also, there are fewer people than people in China. Finally, in a free market economy, the land is actually owned by the landlords, not the government, which drives up cost.

[@MrVorpalsword]

@@u1zhadon't railways contribute to the landscape, what about Castlefields or the bridges over the Tyne? - we are pickling a sensitivity and conservatism of a few London surburbanites from 2024 in aspic and wasting colossal sums of money in the process ... as for bats, no one knows how many there are because they only fly at night, and guess what, if they get troubled by the works or the trains, they fly somewhere else.

[@whubarney9901]

@@u1zha Why on earth are we worried about bat species, with climate change the whole world is in danger the bats will go anyway - might aswell invest in the economy as much as possible

[@eddie4324]

Britain should have had a high speed rail network 50 years ago. Instead I have to sit in a car banging my head on the dashboard in traffic.

[@mikehindson-evans159]

Excellent year-end update; good to see you beginning to increase the emphasis on much-needed capacity. Don't lose the plans for the line beyond Handsacre!

[@PeterGaunt]

Thank you for this update. I wish the project luck in the next year or two.

[@1samstar1]

From Solihull/Birmingham Airport to London Euston in just 38 minutes! That's impressive!

[@harrh4528]

They'll rename it London Birmingham Airport at this rate

[@stephengeraghty3368]

Took the words right out of my mouth

[@GeorgeSimmstrains]

London Birmingham airport london’s severth airport that’s quicker than the train to Southend airport

[@rogerphelps9939]

Meanwhile down in the southwest it takes well ove 2 hours to get to London and north to south links are pretty nonexistent.

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@rogerphelps9939 Crossrail 2 and the completion of the orbital rail around the capital need to happen asap.

[@admiralpegasuscc]

nice update, the original plan of to manchester and leeds would be nice too, then expand it further around the country creating a west side and east side that can even connect Glasgow and Edinburgh with Paris and London, by connecting the east side with HS1. buy the quicker London to Birmingham gets completed and running, it will pay itself off over the next 20 years (should have been paid off by now if it wasnt for some much messing around from various parties since 2010. and it wouldnt have cost so much) would be nice to have a video done explaining the issues and problems from the last 14 years and what lessons have been learnt. hopefully your new CEO will get this project back on track

[@unknown6656]

Fantastic video!! Thanks and greetings from Switzerland :)

[@cheesepie4ever]

I'm glad that HS2 is progressing but it take the piss that the northern leg was cancelled with parts of the remaining budget being funnelled back into London

[@KevinTheCaravanner]

Can anyone answer: given the engineering challenges, were the abandoned northern phases more expensive to build per mile than the southern phase? I ask coz if we’d been told at the outset we could only have half of HS2, I wonder if it would have made more sense just to have the northern half? I’m curious.

[@normhanson981]

Thanks , much appreciated. Well done .

[@kimkristensen2816]

What a shame if the original plans are not excuted

[@cheekytyke]

It looks incredible! Well done to all involved. ❤

[@u1zha]

4:22 cool picture of the rail lines in Birmingham I can't help thinking that there should be slightly more facilitated interchange between them! The lines pass right by the Curzon Street station without a stop and then arrive at their stations just 100s of meters down the line. I'd consider some sort of lift/people mover system to connect New Street, Moor Street and Curzon Street without going out on the street and waiting for a tram.

[@BlackPanthaa]

I love this, need more updates

[@johndwilson6111]

I notice nobody has mentioned subsidised motorways or carparking. 😅

[@MarkWhitter-qm6ef]

You have to wonder how many palms were greased and to what extent when it came to awarding those contracts. Transparency doesn’t seem a popular concept when it comes to politicians. The same “legal fraud” has happened over NHS contracts, PPE contracts, asylum seekers accommodation contracts, Crossrail and numerous other projects. The fact such practices are endemic does not make them justifiable. The HS2 project is of little or no use to those of us living North of Birmingham, but presumably we will be expected to pay for it. They should’ve concentrated on HS3 and abandoned HS2 from the start, but then we live in a London-centric world, don’t we?

[@maxblinkhorn]

Brilliant - UK needs more of this positivity and investment in itself.

[@andrewbrown7314]

Investment in something useful would be better

[@zrepeels]

One day this will be seen as a text book example of fitting high speed transport into a complex urban and natural environment. Congratulations to all of the construction, design and planning professionals involved.

[@CRIMSONANT1]

Haha .. what complete & utter nonsense! The Golborne link - scrapped. The Eastern leg - scrapped. The Northern leg - scrapped. The disaster that is Euston station .. given the go-ahead but won't be operational until at least 2042 (if they can come up with a viable plan). This monstrous vanity project has been an unmitigated disaster since day one & continues to be so. If you believe the rubbish spouted in these blatant propaganda videos, you must be sooooooo naive 😉

[@MrVorpalsword]

what about threading it into less complex urban environments like Doncaster, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen? as for the natural environments, bats, newts and patronising attitudes towards them are among brakes that have cost this amputated laughing stock of a project so dear.

[@lizziewyatt219]

Text Book!!!!not sure what Text Books you used at College😂😂😂😂

[@cmclewee9518]

You are joking I hope, if this had been built in the 1860s or 70s from London to Birmingham it would have been finished by now, the problem with modern engineering is that it is over constructed from inferior materials to those used by the Victorian railway builders. The expected life time of HS2 infrastructure at build is 100 years, because concrete structures don't last as long at the brick structures built by the railway engineers 150 years ago. The concrete will fail with concrete cancer like all other reinforced structures are doing now as they age past 50 years. Look at the viaduct at Bletchley it only lasted 50 years and has had to be demolished and rebuilt for EW Rail. This Lego construction of reinforced concrete sections held together with stressed cables will not last and will probably fail long before the 100 year point. Look at the Forth road and rail bridges, the 1960s bridge is now out of use except for emergencies but the railway bridge is as good as the day it was built from a structural perspective. The reason why the road bridge is failing is the wires hold it up!!

[@JosephDennington]

38 minutes from central london to birmingham airport? it takes 33 minutes from paddington to terminal 5 on the lizzie line. the links to airports around the country is massive, that’s so quick?

[@robertday8619]

Good luck with being able to AFFORD THE TICKET PRICES 😂😂😂😂😂

[@CrabappleKing]

@@robertday8619 i am rich

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

No to Birmingham City Centre not Birmingham Airport

[@ben8430]

This is superb 💪

[@bobmanyo1]

Stop focusing on making it the 'most resilient' this and the 'new benchmark' of that, just GET IT DONE!

[@MightiiNinja]

I love the engineering, but the money this project has already cost could have been used to revamp entire sections of the current network. Ah well, I’m in no rush to go to Birmingham or London these days.

[@RichardBacon-h5x]

Well done, great progress, looking forward to the next update, across Europe high speed lines are transforming freight, taking lorries off the roads, this will help us connect to that netork too. Just a shame there will be no direct link between HS1 ans HS2

[@USBCABLEGUY]

Who the hell wants to go to Birmingham?

[@josephtebay]

Workers, residents, as well as the general public....... Your tasteless joke belongs elsewhere 😂

[@rosse6705]

Immigrant express. Arrive in the country down south and move to Birmingham for a permanent stay 😂

[@j.c.6238]

You do realise after Birmingham the trains will carry on along conventional track ? Reducing the entire length of the journey and increasing capacity.

[@stephenoxf]

@@rosse6705 on the HS2? Lmao good one

[@gregjalepeno6769]

Its about increasing capacity on this leg of the Great Western Line, the fact that this key transport route is at capactiy with little room for economic growth (freight and passenger traffic use it) should have told you the answer to your question before you even started to type.

[@ABTrainsYT]

Pitty there can’t be a connection to HS1 :/

[@zalfuller8933]

Love it! Shame its only for Southerners... All rail investments happening in London and the South, when us Northerns can't get a direct train from Leeds to Manchester 😂 each week more trains are regularly delayed and more cancelled.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Sorry but Birmingham and the West Midlands are not Southerners, they are people who live south of Watford. Birmingham is classed as the Midlands or West Midlands to be precise

[@tompeled6193]

Are there provisions for extensions further north?

[@jack_elliott]

The delta junction outside Birmingham enables north and north east connections. It's being built. If the government chooses to make use of it is tbd

[@matthewhudson9445]

It won't be expanded north because the tories have already sold off the land acquired in the North to their private business mates at cut prices

[@MarkWhitter-qm6ef]

No. That was all cancelled.

[@rogerphelps9939]

@@MarkWhitter-qm6ef So when it is needed for future expansion it will cost 5 times as much as doing it now would.

[@Cheesemaker-o2v]

Cancelling phase 2 was a fortunate land-grab for the government, wasn’t it?

[@colinhall8998]

Will it still work with leaves and snow on the line?

[@claude_k]

3:22 I am aware this is advortorial content, but can we at least say "zero OPERATING carbon travel" (although it would not be exact either), as the HUGE amounts of carbon generated by building the line, stations and trains has to be considered into the equation?!

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

Yes, and we can't be sure of the Electricity generating source at this time, so that might be Carbon generating

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

And A lot of people on here dont seem to realise it actually is one big advert for HS2, I think people think its a documentary

[@saran.gandhi]

Why is everything is so painfully slow? How do the chinese build things so much faster? They are all infrastructural wonders too...

[@fishbutnoegg]

@@saran.gandhi they tend to just get stuff done. But they don't give a shit about the people who get in their way. A win and a loss I guess

[@saran.gandhi]

@fishbutnoeggso, with that logic, r u saying the people here in the UK are the blockers? Don’t the people need progress? And what is the balance ? This excruciatingly slow progress is bordering on the criminal

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

What fish butno egg is saying is that here in the UK we are locked into a set of legal procedures called planning conditions. They define what needs to be done, like where to build tunnels. Then there are all the procedures to comply with to divert all existing infrastructure services and method statements to comply with when crossing other railway lines, roads, rivers. Then there are environmental restrictions which are also part if planning conditions like building a bat tunnel to protect bats. When the Chinese contractors work here in the UK they come up against the same problems, as do the Japanese and American contractors.

[@chat4783]

Simple land owned by the government in China vs. land owned by private landlords in the UK. Also, he is right about the people in china. If they object to the project or protest, they will be thrown into jail. Also, there is a huge propaganda drive that prevents the people in China from seeing the HSR as a negative thing. Source : I've been to China twise and rode on their high-speed train many time.

[@timstarkey-smith8842]

Too much bullshit in the site rules, with no common sense applied half the time, which frequently costs a lot of money.

[@thetntsheep4075]

Can't wait. Would've been even better if govt cared about the North.

[@rhysjaggar4677]

Americans are only interested in London. The govt does the will of Americans.

[@peteregan3862]

Should adopt the 4 abreast reversible seating of NSW last generation of intercity trains, rather than the new ones which are copy from current UK intercity trains and rubbish.

[@bremember]

Meanwhile in China they’ve put down 25,000 miles of high speed rail. We are celebrating London to Bham.

[@psvhangoveral]

HS2 has destroyed my home town of Crewe. Thankyou.

[@CrabappleKing]

where?

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

How, HS2 hasn't got to Crewe yet !!!! it only reaches as far as Handsacre in Staffordshire

[@shaunwest3612]

Congratulations, what you have achieved is incredible 👍

[@seanmurphy8299]

It is the politicians

[@cmw3737]

Skip the expensive section to Euston and build one more tunnel from Old Oak Common to Waterloo and continue along the old HS1 route and you'd have something that's actually useful in connecting the Midlands to Europe, and maybe one day further north, as was originally planned.

[@desertpoj]

All wonderful. However, in 2023 the cost rose by £10 billion, quite amazing on a project that was only supposed to cost £37.9 billion. How about giving us an update on the cost rise in 2024? Or are you too embarrassed to do so?

[@KennethMacArthur]

Really great update! Please can you quote distances in kilometres!

[@iandonkin6762]

The cost overruns are appalling - it’s double the cost for half the infrastructure.

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

That's because the budget was a figure pulled out of the air to satisfy the Boris Johnson government. If someone said to you they could build you a house for fifty thousand and you didn't know any better, then along comes a builder who says it's a hundred thousand is the hundred thousand estimate appalling or is the fifty thousand estimate appalling ? The answer is obviously the fifty thousand estimate is appalling, just like the 32 billion HS2 estimate.

[@scottwills4698]

Such a great engineering achievement. Shame about the overspend and by the time it’s finished there will probably be no need for it as working from home and autonomous cars become more popular.

[@Syn4kh]

Thanks but do we need the intense background music?

[@Macc1]

Another great video update! Keep up the good work!

[@GyamtsoG]

Profiteering rail contractors are lining up their pockets already

[@gregjalepeno6769]

do you say that about Road and house builders?

[@korendir999]

Such Shite!!

[@wesleysanders8570]

Go for it! Onwards and upwards

[@dannybourne_]

*We need HS3 to Glasgow and Edinburgh*

[@andrewreynolds4949]

HS3 is the proposed High Speed from Liverpool-Manchester to Leeds/York. A Scotland link would have to be HS4

[@mowermanize]

Ask nicola i am sure she will help from prison

[@mikehindson-evans159]

@@andrewreynolds4949 You beat me to this correction..

[@rppacademic]

Vote those who would make it come true.

[@andrewreynolds4949]

@@rppacademic I won't come true, no matter who's voted in, if there's no funding available for it

[@jhuc2869]

Now touted as being to increase capacity rather than being about speed. If that’s the case then just run longer trains on the West Coast line between London and Birmingham by increasing platform lengths, power supplies etc. A lot cheaper than this.

[@HenleyBailey]

Is there any indication on what ticket prices are likely to be?

[@MrUltrAdaman]

Honestly we need to get on with this now. "We're making extensive preparations to begin major construction" "We've excavated the station box and we're preparing to begin building the platforms" "Engineers are building the TBMs to dig the last 4 miles to London" "Production will begin on the fleet of trains around 2027" No wonder the project is late and over budget! They need to set clear deadlines and fixed prices with harsh penalties for delays. 120 years of infrastructure? More like 20 by the time it's actually built

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Contractors won't accept a fixed price for very large construction contracts this size as their profit margins won't cover the risks. There are liquidated damages clauses in construction projects where the contractor pays the stipulated sum expressed on a weekly basis for late completion but the reasons for a delay are subject to agreement and on this project late completion on one section won't affect the overall delay to the project so the damages can't be calculated as it is impossible to calculate the cost of the loss to HS2 of not having one particular phase completed on time.

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

Very impressive. But yet another London-centric line.

[@AmazeTase]

Where should it have gone? Ipswich? Ffs!

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

@@AmazeTase It should have started in Manchester so as to benefit the North of England. As usual, London steals the money from the rest of England for its own benefit and its own benefit only.

[@CrabappleKing]

It's not like London is the capital or anything

[@rhobatbrynjones7374]

@@CrabappleKing It's one of four capitals and it is not the country. Yet it gets all the investment.

[@grahambex5829]

Excellent engineering project, but that aside, we don't need it anymore. The UK and the world has moved on with new technology. I live near High Wycombe, so it would take me 45 mins plus to travel into London, then the 38 mins to Birmingham on the HS2. It is easier to drive there and a lot cheaper too. Or stay at home office and have remote meetings via Teams etc

[@csmidge26]

What a ridiculous waste of money to shave off a couple of minutes on a preexisting line. Let's just keep throwing good money after bad for the next decade as well.

[@hammertime4437]

Great video. There are 2 major railway projects I will be keeping an eye on right now in the UK. 1. Is this HS2 Project - Britain's newest and Fastest modern Railway Line. 2. Is the Great Central Railway's REUNIFICATION Project. - Britain's biggest Heritage Railway Project. Both new and old Railway's building something amazing in the UK.

[@MaxPlankton]

Project 2 is more interesting haha. look at all the clones and bots blowing smoke up HS2's fundamental orifice!

[@BarryAskew-r9y]

What’s happened to the Manchester connection I remember this being promised in the eighties Paris to Manchester As usual to little to late Well run modern countries run on good transport and communication. The French remedy this starting in the Seventies

[@RSD2040]

who wants to go to London....or Birmingham these days?

[@timstanton5192]

Good airports in London

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Loads of Business people and visitors as the Avanti West Coast trains are packed between the two Cities

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@timstanton5192 Good Airport in Birmingham and Manchester as well

[@reganiez]

shame the government won’t do the phase 2 for this

[@frogybot]

Perhaps the trains could be double decker?

[@KennySeniorExplores]

Itll never get finished

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Double Deck trains will not fit the UK loading Gauge

[@charleswillcock3235]

Tickets? How much will they be? Many people travel on the Chiltern line because it is much cheaper than Virgin. Why let the cost of tickets get in the way of the project. The £100 million bat cave did not get a shoutout. I would like to know how you spend £100 million on something for bats. I am sure the engineering is impressive - but the real skill in life is to build something which is cost effective. I have not heard any numbers in this update about the economic return. The NEC is used far less today than in the past because websites have taken much of the sales effort away from exhibitions. In summary HS2 would be a good project if there had been a huge amount more control over the costs which too most people seem absurd.

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Difficult to disagree with anything you say. But at the time of the contract awards as the scope of works was unknown it became impossible to tie any of the Contractors to a fixed price. They were therefore all let on a costplus basis. But HS2 could have introduced a profit sharing scheme in return for better buys. Now Lord Hendy has been commissioned to order a project reset in a bid to get a handle on final cost and delivery. But that must mean renegotiating the contracts which I can't see them succeeding.

[@charleswillcock3235]

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg Value for money is critical for any project - the failure of the transport department to scope out the approximate cost is incredibly inefficient. I live within walking distance of a railway line that has two tracks in each direction 1 fast 1 slow. Houses sell without any trouble. The fast trains do not generate an excessive amount of noise. HS2 was very badly specified and the cost of this project will mean many other worthy projects will be delayed or postponed. If the trains had great WIFI power plugs and good number of desks people could work whilst on the train. If the trains had been designed to run slower that would have saved tens of billions of pounds. People would not have been demanding tunnels. In a country which invented train travel frankly, I expect better than what HS2 will achieve. I think non-train buffs would agree with that.

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Yes good points. As you say the out of control spiralling cost will seriously impact on government expenditure plans and we are starting to see that happening right now.

[@tonysmart3287]

Why are you wearing Hi Vis ? Almost sounds as though you still believe it all , London to Birmingham , WOW !

[@sonwig5186]

Well all I can say is that this project has given a lot of archaeologists jobs.

[@tyronstormtrist-mager3312]

What a feat of engineering! Choo choo

[@shrubbie1]

I broadly support the project, but this obsession with carbon reduction is rather tedious. If you could work out how much carbon emissions were produced by every facet of the landscaping, engineering and labour compared to leaving the landscape intact, it would be massive. Humans are carbon based life forms, and will always use and release huge quantities with our modern life styles. Claiming Net zero/zero carbon for any human activity requires breath taking levels of cognitive dissonance. I don't know why politicians and companies think that anyone cares or has signed up for net zero outside of their globalist circle jerk. Modern western human life is something that we will not voluntarily give up, or could give up. The only way to break the chain of obsessing about carbon is to not reproduce. Electricity Generation even with renewables requires huge levels of carbon in their manufacturing and installation, maintenance, grid uprating etc. Equally, base load and grid resilience is always best provided with coal/gas and nuclear. Since closing all our coal plants, biomass travels the oceans on diesel ships along with all the components for our electric cars, home consumables and goods, so we still produce lots of carbon, but china produces it on our behalf.

[@timmurphy5541]

...but that gets amortized...the more hundreds of years you use it the less it matters. Also the project has been an opportunity to try out low carbon concretes and other technology which might inject enough money to kick-start something better.

[@jacklav1]

It is a thing of beauty worthy of comparison to Victorian engineering BUT if they had compromised on the speed by 15% or so it would have cost £20bn less and also someone pointed out that the government could have declared themselves enough planning permission for a new town halfway between London and Birmingham on the line which would have raised more than £40bn. (These figures are a guess.)

[@paulb8603]

Sad that the north of England is getting potholes filled, and no high speed trains

[@Guney1886]

4:33 the current fastest train between London and Birmingham is 1hr17min so 49min is only 28min faster. So how much more will passengers be required to pay for 28minutes quicker? let me guess, double or more. This project is going to be the biggest L of the last decade.

[@ConfusedRaccoon]

So when's the estimated completion date? I'd hate to see this big old expensive thing just sitting there waiting for trains to be built.

[@JT-nr2ss]

best estimates are 2030 or later

[@stocktonjoans]

i wouldn't hold your breath

[@iainmaley3319]

Trains are the easy part, stations and tunnels cost serious money

[@garycook5071]

2033 to Old Oak Common so will take the same time from Birmingham to central London as now

[@Whiskey2shots]

Trains are already being designed with 4-5 years still of building to go

[@NSBarnett]

This doesn't really make clear how far through you are.Halfway? Three-quarters? In terms of, say, person-hours expended, or the date of the start of services. I can get a train from Euston to New St for about £10 (with my senior railcard) and it takes 76 minutes. How will HS2 compare? And what is the latest news of provision of a link from HS2 to HS1 (for someone going from B'ham to Paris, say); will they have to walk? It's 600m as the crow flies, but how far will it be as the commuter travels?

[@DavidKnowles0]

They said in one of the other videos that they are 55% completed on the project

[@fishbutnoegg]

@@NSBarnett they say it will take about 45 minutes or so from Birmingham to London. As for connection HS1 (I agree there should be more provisions) it seems like it's just going to be like any other transfer between London terminals so via the underground or on foot

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

​@DavidKnowles0 That might be a bit optimistic when you consider they haven't started at Euston or north of the Delta Junction and the Chiltern Tunnels to the Delta Junction is in the early stages.

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg They might have been calculating it base on completing old oak common to Birmingham section.

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

It is not due to be completed until 2030 and even that is only to Old Oak Common. So it will take longer from Euston to Birmingham than at present, given that you have to take a tube to OOC. The extension to Euston itself is not anticipated until 2040, depending on whether the private investment for this part actually arrives

[@joj.]

I don't want to be that guy but 0:33: "Create a new benchmark for... punctuality" How exactly HS2/WCP plans to do this while switching to and from the WCML is beyond me. Avanti can't manage it on just the WCML, let alone with a completely seperately scheduled line and completely differently specced trains.

[@zSion]

do it faster, chop chop

[@turquoiseowl]

should have started this project in the North

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Why, if it was just started in the North it would not of got any where, as it is the construction of HS2 is being built the whole length of the line from Birmingham South to London and North to Handsacre is under construction now, on construction projects like HS2 and Motor Ways they never start from just one point

[@turquoiseowl]

@@peterwilliamallen1063 I mean the Northern stretch should have been built first, the stretch from Manchester/York down to Birmingham, or Birmingham up to Manchester/York if you will.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@turquoiseowl Sorry building projects such as HS2 / Railways or Motorways do not start from one place as they will never get finished, they are built in sections from both ends as is HS2, it is being constructed from London going North, From Birmingham going South towards London and at present North from Birmingham to Handsacre in Staffordshire and the West Coast Main Line and all sections in between, it is a new line for the West Coast route nothing to do with York which has a direct hi speed route to London Kings Cross but what is so special about the North for HS2 to start there

[@turquoiseowl]

@ HS2 was at some point intended to improve connection between Birmingham and York and on to Newcastle, in terms of line upgrade between Leeds and York. Point is there is no inter-city connection between York/Newcastle and Birmingham while all the other cities connected by HS2 are already served by inter-city links between them. The North is special because it needs public infrastructure investment much much more than the South-East and has much more potential for growth.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@turquoiseowl HS2 at no point was intended to improve connections between Birmingham, York and Newcastle, all HS2 was designed for was to speed up hi speed trains on the WCML route between Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester and London Euston utilising one train operator Avanti West Coast Trains. HS2 came about due to two failed upgrade attempts on the curving section of the WCML from Stafford to London Euston via the Trent Valley route from Stafford via Nuneaton, Rugby and Watford to London Euston and is the reason Virgin West Coast purchased the Pendolino trains so they would tilt around these curves but were still restricted to 125 MPH and not the speed every one thought they would do of 140 MPH due to the failed upgrade and the number of Freight trains now running on the Southern half of the WCML, so a decision was made to build a new hi speed line to Birmingham and the North West with a speed limit of 225 MPH using new hi speed trains run by Avanti West Coast Trains running on HS2 to Crewe and Birmingham. The Eastern leg was a no no from the beginning due to Newcastle and York having a hispeed link to London Kings X so was cancelled by the government and both the Cities, York and Newcastle o have an InterCity link with Birmingham via Derby and Nottingham run by X Country trains whose trains then go on from Birmingham to the South East ( Bournemouth and Poole and the South West to Devon and Cornwall via Bristol). No the North is no more special than the West Midlands Metro Area which contains 3 Cities, Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton and loads of large towns.

[@RichardHill-bi5le]

Thanks for the update

[@johnnguyen1692]

when is the completion date?

[@MrVorpalsword]

don't be silly, its not being completed that would involving connecting Northern towns - Londoners don't want to hear any more of our chimp-like accents.

[@spilleradam]

Probably around 2035.

[@cefnonn]

If this railway is to have a positive carbon impact, it should result in great numbers of people taking the train rather than driving between London and Birmingham. Ditto with freight. Will this modal shift happen, though?

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

Just so we know factually exactly how this project is going : From the Department for Transport (Public Accounts Committee) on 19th Dec. 2024 "The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed the High Speed 2 (HS2) project is currently undergoing a full programme reset and it doesn’t currently know what the estimated final cost of delivering it is going to be. Speaking at a Public Accounts Committee meeting today, 19 December, scrutinising the value for money of the project, members from HS2 Ltd and the DfT stated that an updated cost estimate for Phase 1 (which is the only remaining phase of the project) is expected by mid-2026, at the earliest. The revelation that an official total value for the remaining phase to build a high-speed line from Birmingham to London is not currently known follows a leaked document reported to state Phase 1 could cost more than £80bn...This is based on a leaked update from ministers that put the budget at building the line between £54bn and £66bn, in 2019 prices. Adjusting for inflation, this would be between £67bn and £81.7bn in current prices." and *unbelievably* .. "We need to reach agreement on a cost estimation methodology which we do not currently have" “It is going to take some time now to arrive at a revised estimate, and not just a cost estimate...We need to agree a revised range on cost and schedule.” And just in case people think this cost overrun is just due to Nimbyism and bat colonies: "Part of the reason for the unknown total cost and the need for a reset is down to issues with the main works civils contracts. “Part of the reason for the unknown total cost and the need for a reset is down to issues with the main works civils contracts.I’ve looked at this in some detail, across the passage of time, and the problem is rooted in the main works civils contracts." I will try and post a link , but its just there on google. Search HS2 DfT

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Yes well said. You have covered everything except one important point though. Resetting the programme means getting a handle on the actual final cost as well as getting a handle on the actual programme duration for completing the project and that will require a renegotiation of the existing civil engineering contracts. Having worked for 2 of the Contractors involved in building the project I know none of them will sacrifice the low risk costplus contracts they are currently working under unless there is a strong likelihood of retaining a profit margin from their contracts. And that will mean remaining averse to the risks leaving HS2 exposed to those risks.

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

@@TrevorWilliams-fq8mgmy information is from New Civil Engineer Dec 19th. I can't post a link but you can easily search "DfT HS2 New civil engineer". It does mention the contractors overrun near the end, but not nearly enough. It would be interesting if people in the field, such as yourself, could create more content on the nitty gritty about what is actually going on here.

[@jamesjay381]

Great video 👏👏👍

[@connorjones9314]

Is it true that completion is around 2033 another 8 years on top of the many years already done

[@TrevorWilliams-fq8mg]

Possibly yes except Euston won't be completed until 2040.

[@Eraeraeric]

Hopefully it will open in 2030 as planned

[@davidfellowes1628]

Whilst impressive, we have been two decades slow in approving these infrastructure projects. Slow at coming forward, upon projects that benefit all.

[@horatiohuskisson5471]

More! Mooore! MOOOORRREEE!!!

[@tomsmith8838]

What an absolutely horrific waste of money. The boss of HS2 Ltd has estimated the cost could go up to £66.6 Billion; so of course it will end up even higher than that. All to shave 20 minutes off a journey between two cities, for a wealthy minority of people. This isn't modernisation. It's not a project that will have a positive impact environmentally. It's not efficiently solving a major issue. It's a vanity project that has caused irreparable damage to habitats, landscapes and communities. And the worst thing is, it was obviously going to turn out this way, right from the very start.

[@AmazeTase]

Lol, if people like you were ever in charge we’d still be travelling on horse & cart!

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

It will be a lot more than £66 billion. And its not including the money from Old Oak Common to Euston, which is due to finish 2040

[@PrinceJohn84]

​@@AmazeTaseBut you can't deny the fact that he's right...

[@HarryL2020]

Shame it won't reach manchester

[@jahmah519]

I slagged of this project no ends but now I just can't wait for it to be up & running, I see all the immense work going on & ime like wow, who are these incredible people creating this, ime absolutely amazed 👏

[@MikeUK]

Manchester resident here, been reading the capacity of hs2 trains is less than the trains arriving in Birmingham from Manchester 🎉🎉🎉 😂😂😂

[@PhilipOwen-zw4sc]

Will Lancaster and Carlisle get extended platforms ? Will Milton Keynes have fewer fast trains to Manchester?

[@daves8628]

So cool

[@richardford561]

Good update. Small detail but the trains switch to driving on the right at 5:40.

[@xr4icossie]

On HS lines trains can and do run on either line in both directions. It is still the normal though to run on the left.

[@GeorgeSimmstrains]

Happy railway 200 everyone

[@chrisholland5965]

Well done, get it across the line before someone cancels it, will be a great success ones in use.

[@Senna_Folo]

What about the North of England?