<story><title>First photo of HS2 tunnel boring machines</title><url>https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/06/04/first-photo-of-hs2-tunnel-boring-machines/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acallaghan</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m mainly annoyed about the rollout of HS2 because of the government&amp;#x27;s insistence of all projects starting&amp;#x2F;ending in London. A new trans-pennine rail tunnel from Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield under the peaks, and Manc-Leeds-Hull would add vastly more value than a faster connection between already well connected cities. This is planned for &amp;#x27;HS3&amp;#x27;, but that could be 40+ years off at this rate.&lt;p&gt;The large-scale projects need to srart every 10 years or so... the UK is in desperate need of non-car infrastructure if it wants to be carbon zero by 2050.</text></item><item><author>BlackVanilla</author><text>In the media, there&amp;#x27;s been a focus on HS2&amp;#x27;s ever-growing budget, bulldozing land, and massive delays. These are significant, if not more so than what I&amp;#x27;m about to talk about, but it&amp;#x27;s worth focusing on an aspect frequently not considered: the positive externality of improving human skills.&lt;p&gt;With Crossrail (now Elizabeth Line) nearly finished under London, the Channel Tunnel, and now HS2 tunnels, the UK is exposing some of its workforce to some great tunnelling projects. The skill these workers must have aquired working on these large-scale tunnelling projects is impressive. The UK could even be developing a comparative advantage in tunnelling.&lt;p&gt;It doesn&amp;#x27;t solve the factors outlined at the start, but it&amp;#x27;s a side affect few discuss in public discourse when deciding to fund an infrastructure project like HS2. The positive externalities of SpaceX&amp;#x27;s work or of NASA&amp;#x27;s work are not limited to the end goal (the fact we fly something to space), it&amp;#x27;s also that now we have more people with better skills. This is something that the media doesn&amp;#x27;t focus on when big breakthroughs happen, whether privately- or publicly-funded, and I think that&amp;#x27;s a shame.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chrisseaton</author><text>&amp;gt; A new trans-pennine rail tunnel from Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield under the peaks, and Manc-Leeds-Hull would add vastly more value than a faster connection between already well connected cities.&lt;p&gt;I live in this area and do these routes frequently and yes I&amp;#x27;d love them to be more connected too.&lt;p&gt;But realistically, like almost everyone else in the country almost all my travel is to and from London, because that&amp;#x27;s where most things happen.</text></comment>
<story><title>First photo of HS2 tunnel boring machines</title><url>https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020/06/04/first-photo-of-hs2-tunnel-boring-machines/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>acallaghan</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m mainly annoyed about the rollout of HS2 because of the government&amp;#x27;s insistence of all projects starting&amp;#x2F;ending in London. A new trans-pennine rail tunnel from Liverpool-Manchester-Sheffield under the peaks, and Manc-Leeds-Hull would add vastly more value than a faster connection between already well connected cities. This is planned for &amp;#x27;HS3&amp;#x27;, but that could be 40+ years off at this rate.&lt;p&gt;The large-scale projects need to srart every 10 years or so... the UK is in desperate need of non-car infrastructure if it wants to be carbon zero by 2050.</text></item><item><author>BlackVanilla</author><text>In the media, there&amp;#x27;s been a focus on HS2&amp;#x27;s ever-growing budget, bulldozing land, and massive delays. These are significant, if not more so than what I&amp;#x27;m about to talk about, but it&amp;#x27;s worth focusing on an aspect frequently not considered: the positive externality of improving human skills.&lt;p&gt;With Crossrail (now Elizabeth Line) nearly finished under London, the Channel Tunnel, and now HS2 tunnels, the UK is exposing some of its workforce to some great tunnelling projects. The skill these workers must have aquired working on these large-scale tunnelling projects is impressive. The UK could even be developing a comparative advantage in tunnelling.&lt;p&gt;It doesn&amp;#x27;t solve the factors outlined at the start, but it&amp;#x27;s a side affect few discuss in public discourse when deciding to fund an infrastructure project like HS2. The positive externalities of SpaceX&amp;#x27;s work or of NASA&amp;#x27;s work are not limited to the end goal (the fact we fly something to space), it&amp;#x27;s also that now we have more people with better skills. This is something that the media doesn&amp;#x27;t focus on when big breakthroughs happen, whether privately- or publicly-funded, and I think that&amp;#x27;s a shame.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>C1sc0cat</author><text>Rail lines out of London are already very very congested - 
and the infrastructure is creaking.&lt;p&gt;The idea is that hs2 would be new track that would free up slots on the existing network.</text></comment>