Best way to spend £106BILLION ??

[Dayvo]

Eraducate homelessness.
Re-introduce apprenticeships in a wide variety of trades and professions.
Cater for the disadvantaged in society: the old, weak, sick, vulnerable.

 

[Archie_tect]

Why would it? Neither have ever been part of HS2, and the latter has always been touted as a separate scheme (HS3 anyone?).

True, that's why I'd said 'If..."

 

[Pale Rider]

Freeing space for the commuting lines is a benefit.

But given the huge jump in home working, likely to be sustained, I wonder how much we now need to create extra capacity for the remaining Reggie Perrins.

The same applies to the line itself.

How many businessmen really need to get from Birmingham to London half an hour faster?

I doubt many of them need to get to London at all, given that we are all now living in the Zoom generation.

And at the risk of appearing selfish, the timescale (likely to slip as always) means I'll be dead by the time the northern bit opens.

 

[Archie_tect]

+ the disruption to rail, road and existing utilities in the densely populated parts will be massive... still you can't fix things without the problem of dismantling other bits first... can't believe it is the best laid plan though.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

High speed broadband absolutely everywhere, no need to do all the excessive travelling

 

[Joffey]

This needs a Drago type vote really.
Looks like the rail li l is a out to start.
So.......£106 BILLION to shave 30 minutes off a journey
Or
X number of new hospitals
X number of cycle lanes
X number of schools
etc etc
How do you feel it should be spent ?

I'd spend it on more eat Out To Help Out meals.

 

[slowmotion]

They should divide the budget equally amongst the entire population of the UK and let individuals decide how they get to Birmingham. I'll just trouser my £1600 and stay put in London.

 

[Accy cyclist]

New Hotels .......

For?

 

[classic33]

Would £106 billion be enough to build a substantial wall along the entire length of the English/Scottish border?

Better still, the Yorkshire - Lancashire Border.

 

[classic33]

Freeing space for the commuting lines is a benefit.

But given the huge jump in home working, likely to be sustained, I wonder how much we now need to create extra capacity for the remaining Reggie Perrins.

The same applies to the line itself.

How many businessmen really need to get from Birmingham to London half an hour faster?

I doubt many of them need to get to London at all, given that we are all now living in the Zoom generation.

And at the risk of appearing selfish, the timescale (likely to slip as always) means I'll be dead by the time the northern bit opens.

2035!

 

[postman]

106 billion,so some people can have another gin and tonic in Wetherspoons on the train concourse.I'll wait and see how much it does really cost.Because some Tory Grandee and his mates are going to make a bundle.

 

[classic33]

106 billion,so some people can have another gin and tonic in Wetherspoons on the train concourse.I'll wait and see how much it does really cost.Because some Tory Grandee and his mates are going to make a bundle.

They've already started work on Platforms 0 and 00 at Leeds though.

 

[midlife]

Plus the rumoured 22000 jobs it will create and all the supply companies for materials etc.
It classic Keynesian economics to pump the system

Read somewhere that it's £2 million per job created, not sure that would have built the Hoover Dam?

 

[slowmotion]

106 billion,so some people can have another gin and tonic in Wetherspoons on the train concourse.I'll wait and see how much it does really cost.Because some Tory Grandee and his mates are going to make a bundle.

The budget was 32 billion in 2012. Lord knows what it'll be in another eight years.

 

[Brains]

I'll take the 106 billion and then hand the entire job to the Chinese, who are currently building high speed rail at under $1m per Km (would be less than £1m per mile)
That way the entire network could be built for less than £1 billion, and I'll keep the change