RichM I read up a bit on this after Amps post and things mentioned were your point on the difference of how densely populated both lines are. Also the huge costs in the UK to pay for obtaining the land and protecting nature. Does make me wonder why they still bothered with trying to go ahead with the whole thing
Missed this reply at the time.
Have you got any links? From what I read only £3.6b of the Phase 1 budget was spent on purchasing land. Not a lot of the budget if it comes in around the £60b - £80b mark. I saw more emphasis on interference from local Tory councils, like those in the Chilterns, who managed to argue for extra tunnelling; probably the most expensive extra cost. And then loads of add ons like ventilation shafts disguised as ‘ye olde barns’ and bridges to be clad in brick so they looked like something from a 1940s Ladybird book.
It also doesn’t add up that our other infrastructure is more expensive. Our trams, which run on already purchased, government owned roads, cost anywhere from five to ten times more than their European equivalents per mile.
I ’m happy to be wrong, but I think these infrastructure builds are just another way of enriching the middle classes again. We’ve run out of stuff to sell off for them, so they can just put in over inflated quotes for unnecessary work, and the country will pay for it. They had chief execs with higher pay than anyone else in public office. Literal gravy train.
