H2

[Old Cruser]

FRom Natacha Engle on the H2


HS2 have now published their new route map and the proposed line has been moved to run parallel to the M18 motorway, to the east of Rotherham.

It has also been recommended that HS2 services to Sheffield split from the high speed line near Alfreton and travel to a Sheffield Midland station on a conventional-speed rail line.

This will mean that areas like Renishaw and Killamarsh will be avoided and that there may be the option for the service to stop at Chesterfield too. However the new proposed route has not yet been confirmed and will be undergoing a consultation later this year. After this has taken place, the Government will then take a formal decision on the route.

[Sorastro]

Yes HS2.......The beast awakens.
I got a "Have your say" letter through the post the other day wanting your input into HS2 inviting you to information events in Sheffield and Chesterfield, did you get yours?

If you have seen the front page of last weeks D.T. it looks like salvation is on the horizon for the job hungry in Chesterfield but dig a little deeper and........
The Hartington colliery site is just one of SIX sites up for consideration.
Bombardier in Derby {world leaders in train making once upon a time} now working with only half the workforce it had in 2011.

It is alleged.......
The Hitachi train factory in County Durham that opened, not all that long ago, to much fanfare turns out not to be a train "factory" i.e. builds them, but a train assembly plant. It imports prefabricated trains to the plant to be merely put together like Lego and it seems Hitachi will soon be moving all their train building to Italy leaving the workers at County Durham high and dry next year. 
 

[Sorastro]

I have just read this.................

It is alleged:-
Since January 2017 at least 4 of the largest consultancy firms {no names no pack drill} have managed to shave just under £20 million off the top of the estimated £56 billion HS2 project already, I assume for consultancy work. One of those large 4 has the task of handing out contracts, so far at least 2 of the contracts {one over £200 million... the other £4 billion} have been given to "foreign" contractors.

OH NO!!! I'm seeing a white elephant again............NURSE THE SCREENS!!

[Fly]

Wasn't the rumour the steel/rails were being produced in Japan 

[Sorastro]

Haven't  heard about the rails but it appears that HS2 trains and rolling stock production will be divided between 5 companies.
1 German... 1 Canadian... 1 Italian.... 1 French.... and 1 Japanese.
According to the powers that be the first stage of HS2 opens in 2026 {this is already in serious doubt but they've been told to keep shtum}
"HS2 will provide Japanese style punctuality on our railways as they will need less maintenance than our old Victorian system"
The only fault with that is apart from HS2 system itself the trains will still have to run elsewhere on "our old Victorian system" meaning branch lines wouldn't really see any benefit.
Train fares are already eye watering so jumping on a "faster" train that will get you there 20 minutes earlier will be no comfort.

George Stephenson must be turning in his grave.

[Sorastro]

Looks as if the government are finally coming clean on the REAL cost of HS2 to the taxpayer,as I said it looks like even a money waster like Boris can no longer sell this "White Elephant" to the country any longer.

Anybody {and I mean anybody} in government, and elsewhere, who STILL thinks HS2 is a good idea should be sacked instead of wasting 3 years and then suddenly pretending that this overspend has come as a huge surprise, apparently there were a few dissenters back then who voiced doubts in 2016 but it seems they were silenced {got the push} courtesy of the then Chancellor.

Cameron gave you the referendum...and walked away.. Osborne did the same with HS2

[Sorastro]

Looks as if the government are finally coming clean on the REAL cost of HS2 to the taxpayer,as I said it looks like even a money waster like Boris can no longer sell this "White Elephant" to the country any longer.
 apparently there were a few dissenters back then who voiced doubts in 2016 but it seems they were silenced {got the push} courtesy of the then Chancellor.
Cameron gave you the referendum...and walked away.. Osborne did the same with HS2

Apparently not.... It is alleged
Although no longer chancellor Osborne is very much in the forefront of keeping HS2 "ontrack" as the big contractors who would lose out if it were scrapped are weeping and wailing about the "damage" to the country if the plug was pulled.
Even though the cost to date has been openly estimated at £80 billion {and rising} Osborne and his cronies seem to be ready to convince the nation that it will be all worth it in the end. Apparently one reason is the higher the cost paid to contractors the more money a certain corporation {who employs Osborne for one day a week for the princely sum of £650,000 a year} will make.

[Old Cruser]

They really cannot justify spending this money after all the cuts and from what I hear we in chesterfield have more to come.
People used to manage with a horse and cart!!!

[wollygobble]

What needs to be done is to reduce the need for travel rather than pandering to it.  For 16 years I worked for The Post Office (later Consignia, later Royal Mail Group).  When I joined, with the former PHQ scattered to the four winds we had video conference facilities to reduce travel.  But hardly anyone used them because the quality was crap.  16 years later it was still crap.  That's where the investment should be going.  Trouble is, no-one wants it.  They'd rather have a day out.

[Alsatian]

What needs to be done is to reduce the need for travel rather than pandering to it.  For 16 years I worked for The Post Office (later Consignia, later Royal Mail Group).  When I joined, with the former PHQ scattered to the four winds we had video conference facilities to reduce travel.  But hardly anyone used them because the quality was crap.  16 years later it was still crap.  That's where the investment should be going.  Trouble is, no-one wants it.  They'd rather have a day out.

Slightly off piste, but I too worked for the Post Office/Royal Mail/Consignia (which I always thought sounded like a man's deodorant!).

I worked there between 1985 & 2002, and all that time worked for OMAG (including all the other names it was known as).

[wollygobble]

Slightly off piste, but I too worked for the Post Office/Royal Mail/Consignia (which I always thought sounded like a man's deodorant!).

I worked there between 1985 & 2002, and all that time worked for OMAG (including all the other names it was known as).

I was there between those dates (in ITD/iT/Business Systems), but I've never heard of OMAG.  Maybe I knew it by one of its other names.

[Alsatian]

I was there between those dates (in ITD/iT/Business Systems), but I've never heard of OMAG.  Maybe I knew it by one of its other names.

OMAG stood for Overseas Mails Accounts Group, and we were based on the 6th floor East block of the old Chetwynd House. You may recall it better as Royal Mail International or International Letters?

[wollygobble]

OMAG stood for Overseas Mails Accounts Group, and we were based on the 6th floor East block of the old Chetwynd House. You may recall it better as Royal Mail International or International Letters?

Oh, thanks for that.  I was never in Chetwynd House.  By the time our little group relocated from Swindon to Chesterfield, ITD had moved to Barker Lane.

[Alsatian]

Oh, thanks for that.  I was never in Chetwynd House.  By the time our little group relocated from Swindon to Chesterfield, ITD had moved to Barker Lane.

The only dealings I had with Barker Lane was with a couple of guys who were doing a new mainframe system for us.

[Umpire]

I worked in Chetwynd House  from 1973 to 1991 when I took early retirement.I spent all of that time in Personnel and  for the last seven years in OMAG.
When the Post Office split the job I was doing was in Parcels  and I was transferred to Parcelforce where I remained until I finished.