A letter in this morning’s Telegraph from Richard Thorp (Director, High Speed Rail Group), insisted that the project should continue without any further delays, protests, squabbles or criticism from the general public and vested interests.
Quote “The reality is that HS2 has passed the point of no return. The debate now needs to be about making sure it delivers growth, as well as the urgent need to decarbonise transport. No more time and energy should be wasted on squabbling about whether a project deep into construction should be happening.”
He was very careful not to mention the escalating budget for this massive of white elephants – current estimates suggest anything between £140bn to £170bn and the clock is still ticking.
He also forgot to mention that the entire project would be underwritten by the government. And for government read Taxpayer. This means that the maintenance, repairs, future extensions & expansions etc will also be funded by the Taxpayer.
Which begs the question of where are the train operators in all of this?
As we saw with the privatisation of the railways back in the day, these operators waded in on the understanding that if they made a loss the Taxpayer will bail them out with subsidies. But when they were in profit the Taxpayer saw little or no dividend from it.
And so to with HS2. The Taxpayer pays for it, private operators take over on the same understanding that they will never end up in debt. No risk to them: shitloads of risk to the Taxpayer.
Moreover, as we saw during the 2 year pandemic vast numbers of former train commuters are now resorting to video conferencing either from their homes or offices. No more need to trek 200 miles on the train for a 1 hour business meeting.
And let’s not forget the power of the rail unions, who are currently making life extremely difficult for commuters with their strike action for more pay and better conditions – probably all funded by the Taxpayer.
Thorp is a deluded cunt, who cares little for the old concept of “value for money” for the hard pressed Taxpayer. All he wants is to see are nice profits, dividends and bonuses courtesy most likely from commuters and Taxpayers whether the latter use the trains or not.
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Nominated by: Technocunt