In this video I follow the route from the North Portal at South Heath and finish at Wendover. This section now includes the site of Small Dean Viaduct.
Another really good video, my wife and I reckon the guy who controls the traffic lights at Rocky Lane has something against us - they are always at Red, or change to Red as we approach. Amazing how much land is needed and those beautifully constructed car parks, now scheduled for demolition. Does make you wonder if it is needed?.
Thanks Mike. I always cycle out that way, going from Great Missenden back to Aylesbury. Hogtrough Lane is a convenient direct route from Kings Ash which takes me to Wendover. It can be rather muddy and slippery though! As for the car parks and other areas, I suppose the workers have to park somewhere and the large diggers too. It will be interesting to see how they turn it all back into green fields again. It can be done because you only look at the cutting made by the North Portal. When that was first cut it was stark white chalk and now it's all grass. Having said that, the old trees that were cut down can't be replaced sadly.
Whilst the tunnels have indeed added more to the cost of the project they are not unnecessary. The Chilterns is an area of outstanding natural beauty and nobody wanted a deep cutting through the many woods and fields.
@@KarlVaughan Oh come on! Have you seen the M40? Many times more of a scar on the Chiltern landscape than a clean 2-track electric railway. Those tunnels were not in the original plan, but were built at great cost to appease Chiltern NIMBYs in Conservative constituencies. HS2 Ltd (government owned) just said "yes, OK, you can have your expensive tunnels" instead of saying "don't be daft, your demands are unreasonable".
I know the tunnels were not in the original plan but so were a lot of things. You only have to look at the differences between the original plans and the later amendments to see that. You can pick anything out of the amendments that would have added extra cost to the project. Also, it wasn't costed correctly at the start, according to some former HS2 people and other experts.
@@KarlVaughan Any 'amendments' to any project should be subject to careful scrutiny and cost / benefit analysis under 'change control'. This did not happen with many extras that have vastly inflated the cost to date of HS2, the most blatant being those completely unnecessary tunnels. It is not a coincidence that they are in the constituencies of Conservative MPs. The fact is no-one was at the wheel, controlling costs, for this project. HS2 Ltd is a DfT arm and no-one was executing professional project management. This useless and corrupt government promised us a 'leveling up' railway to connect the underprivileged north to the overheating south east. Then they failed to manage costs, said it was too expensive (because they failed to manage the bluddy costs!), so Sunak, without consulting anyone, stood up at the party conference and just withdrew that promise! Not only that, he salted the earth by removing restrictions on the sale of HS2 land north of Lichfield so making it impossible for a more sane administration to reverse his short-termist attempt to cling onto power.
I agree, Sunak is an idiot for doing what he did and I've heard there could be an inquiry into this. I don't understand how one man can cancel something like this without going through the proper process. I feel for the councils and businesses up north that were relying on this project to be completed. They've just been kicked in the teeth over this.
Thank you ...this construction is advancing , impressive from an enginering and planning viewpoint , ..... good video thank you ....
Another great video giving insights into the key developments. Thanks for taking the time and effort to provide this.
Another really good video, my wife and I reckon the guy who controls the traffic lights at Rocky Lane has something against us - they are always at Red, or change to Red as we approach. Amazing how much land is needed and those beautifully constructed car parks, now scheduled for demolition. Does make you wonder if it is needed?.
Thanks Mike. I always cycle out that way, going from Great Missenden back to Aylesbury. Hogtrough Lane is a convenient direct route from Kings Ash which takes me to Wendover. It can be rather muddy and slippery though! As for the car parks and other areas, I suppose the workers have to park somewhere and the large diggers too. It will be interesting to see how they turn it all back into green fields again. It can be done because you only look at the cutting made by the North Portal. When that was first cut it was stark white chalk and now it's all grass. Having said that, the old trees that were cut down can't be replaced sadly.
Excellent video Jarl, thank you. Nice picture of an owl(?) at the very end. Those tunnel bores at the beginning… they the Chiltern tunnels?
Thanks, and a different typo to the usual 'Carl' I sometimes see. Yes, those are the Chiltern tunnels at the start.
Those unnecessary Chiltern tunnels have cost the north their access to HS2.
Whilst the tunnels have indeed added more to the cost of the project they are not unnecessary. The Chilterns is an area of outstanding natural beauty and nobody wanted a deep cutting through the many woods and fields.
@@KarlVaughan Oh come on! Have you seen the M40? Many times more of a scar on the Chiltern landscape than a clean 2-track electric railway. Those tunnels were not in the original plan, but were built at great cost to appease Chiltern NIMBYs in Conservative constituencies. HS2 Ltd (government owned) just said "yes, OK, you can have your expensive tunnels" instead of saying "don't be daft, your demands are unreasonable".
I know the tunnels were not in the original plan but so were a lot of things. You only have to look at the differences between the original plans and the later amendments to see that. You can pick anything out of the amendments that would have added extra cost to the project. Also, it wasn't costed correctly at the start, according to some former HS2 people and other experts.
@@KarlVaughan Any 'amendments' to any project should be subject to careful scrutiny and cost / benefit analysis under 'change control'. This did not happen with many extras that have vastly inflated the cost to date of HS2, the most blatant being those completely unnecessary tunnels. It is not a coincidence that they are in the constituencies of Conservative MPs.
The fact is no-one was at the wheel, controlling costs, for this project. HS2 Ltd is a DfT arm and no-one was executing professional project management. This useless and corrupt government promised us a 'leveling up' railway to connect the underprivileged north to the overheating south east. Then they failed to manage costs, said it was too expensive (because they failed to manage the bluddy costs!), so Sunak, without consulting anyone, stood up at the party conference and just withdrew that promise! Not only that, he salted the earth by removing restrictions on the sale of HS2 land north of Lichfield so making it impossible for a more sane administration to reverse his short-termist attempt to cling onto power.
I agree, Sunak is an idiot for doing what he did and I've heard there could be an inquiry into this. I don't understand how one man can cancel something like this without going through the proper process. I feel for the councils and businesses up north that were relying on this project to be completed. They've just been kicked in the teeth over this.