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HS2 construction updates

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swt_passenger

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Kevin Roche: thanks for the suggestion about the Crossrail documentary. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to access BBC programs this side of the Atlantic. I should have another attempt.

What surprised me was the flexibility of the pipe carrying the slurry, which reminded me of artists' impressions of Titanoboa (I am a biologist!)
Have you tried searching “Crossrail documentary” or ”Fifteen Billion Pound Railway” on YouTube? Don’t know which episode you’d need unfortunately...
 
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RSimons

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Have you tried searching “Crossrail documentary” or ”Fifteen Billion Pound Railway” on YouTube? Don’t know which episode you’d need unfortunately...
I found them at the BBC site but could not access them. Just now I've checked out YouTube and it looks like I can watch them there. Thanks for the suggestion.
 

ABB125

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Short article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, apparently work in the "Roald Dahl Wood" has been halted due to concerns about bats. This is despite a license being granted for the work by Natural England. Work has been suspended at least until late May, when the court case is due to be heard.
IMG_20210418_120536243~2.jpg
 
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Short article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, apparently work in the "Road Dahl Wood" has been halted due to concerns about bats. This is despite a license being granted for the work by Natural England. Work has been suspended at least until late May, when the court case is due to be heard.
View attachment 94656

The "Roahl Dahl Wood" (Jones Hill Wood) is not actually the wood that inspired The Fantastic Mr Fox - JHW is 2 miles from where Dahl lived in Great Missenden, (and literally in the middle of nowhere.) The actual "TFMF wood" was thought to be on his doorstep (according to the Dahl museum) in Gt. Miss. Linking JHW to Dahl is propaganda invented by HS2Rebellion and swallowed hook line and sinker by a press that is either too lazy to check or complicit in the propaganda campaign.

HS2Rebellion and/or Green Party's Mark Kier (of West Drayton, not sure what he's doing breaking lockdown up at Gt. Miss.) have launched a legal action against Natural England claiming that they should not have granted HS2 Ltd a license to deal with the bats in Jones Hill Wood. (I'm not sure on what grounds, I haven't read the court documents.) Pending that outcome, a temporary injunction has been granted to put a halt to some of the HS2 works at JHW.

I doubt this will have any significant outcome, but it will allow HS2 opponents to puff their chests out for a few week and claim a victory - until it gets to court and gets thrown out. The only profit will be for the lawyers - maybe some civil servants will need to tick a few extra boxes or perhaps some additional mitigations will be ordered.

Meanwhile, the works on the rest of the line (mostly sans protestors) are carrying on.
 

ABB125

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The "Roahl Dahl Wood" (Jones Hill Wood) is not actually the wood that inspired The Fantastic Mr Fox - JHW is 2 miles from where Dahl lived in Great Missenden, (and literally in the middle of nowhere.) The actual "TFMF wood" was thought to be on his doorstep (according to the Dahl museum) in Gt. Miss. Linking JHW to Dahl is propaganda invented by HS2Rebellion and swallowed hook line and sinker by a press that is either too lazy to check or complicit in the propaganda campaign.

HS2Rebellion and/or Green Party's Mark Kier (of West Drayton, not sure what he's doing breaking lockdown up at Gt. Miss.) have launched a legal action against Natural England claiming that they should not have granted HS2 Ltd a license to deal with the bats in Jones Hill Wood. (I'm not sure on what grounds, I haven't read the court documents.) Pending that outcome, a temporary injunction has been granted to put a halt to some of the HS2 works at JHW.

I doubt this will have any significant outcome, but it will allow HS2 opponents to puff their chests out for a few week and claim a victory - until it gets to court and gets thrown out. The only profit will be for the lawyers - maybe some civil servants will need to tick a few extra boxes or perhaps some additional mitigations will be ordered.

Meanwhile, the works on the rest of the line (mostly sans protestors) are carrying on.
I've just noticed that both you and I have mis-spelled "Roald"! Though it may be a bit of autocorrect... :D
 

MarkLong

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The "Roahl Dahl Wood" (Jones Hill Wood) is not actually the wood that inspired The Fantastic Mr Fox - JHW is 2 miles from where Dahl lived in Great Missenden, (and literally in the middle of nowhere.) The actual "TFMF wood" was thought to be on his doorstep (according to the Dahl museum) in Gt. Miss. Linking JHW to Dahl is propaganda invented by HS2Rebellion and swallowed hook line and sinker by a press that is either too lazy to check or complicit in the propaganda campaign.

HS2Rebellion and/or Green Party's Mark Kier (of West Drayton, not sure what he's doing breaking lockdown up at Gt. Miss.) have launched a legal action against Natural England claiming that they should not have granted HS2 Ltd a license to deal with the bats in Jones Hill Wood. (I'm not sure on what grounds, I haven't read the court documents.) Pending that outcome, a temporary injunction has been granted to put a halt to some of the HS2 works at JHW.

I doubt this will have any significant outcome, but it will allow HS2 opponents to puff their chests out for a few week and claim a victory - until it gets to court and gets thrown out. The only profit will be for the lawyers - maybe some civil servants will need to tick a few extra boxes or perhaps some additional mitigations will be ordered.

Meanwhile, the works on the rest of the line (mostly sans protestors) are carrying on.
The Telegraph's headline is simply misleading, show be a small HS2 worksite has been halted, not HS2 halted.
 
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Mace Dragados wins HS2 Birmingham Curzon Street station contract

 

kevin_roche

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A short video on the TBM on the BBC web site.


The largest tunnelling machine ever used on a UK rail project is officially starting work.

Florence - named after Florence Nightingale - will spend the next three-and-a-half years cutting through the chalk beneath the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire.
 

Purple Orange

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Excellent. It actually feels like HS2 is really happening now. The fact the tunnelling has started makes it all feel that bit more real for some reason.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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I agree. I don’t know why but tunneling starting makes it all seem real. Great news.
And even more irreversible as a project.
I think it was about a year into channel tunnel construction, after the initial service tunnel TBMs got about 8km out to sea, when it became clear that it would actually be completed.
 

Nottingham59

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It's good news. In rail projects, once you start tunnelling, you accrue sunk costs at an alarming rate (which insulate you somewhat from the wildly over-optimistic assumptions needed to get approval in the first place) - and increase the political embarrassment of cancelling the project.
 

hwl

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I agree. I don’t know why but tunneling starting makes it all seem real. Great news.
Those are very long tunnels and the TBMs will be going for 3 years in each bore. When the last of the TBMs has started will probably be near the tipping point for me.

Still a few areas with comparatively little work started
 

TheHSRailFan

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Looks like tunnelling has started today according to a snippet on BBC news.
This is great news!
Been chatting to people on Twitter about this announcement, We've all come to the agreement where they should do something like they did with Crossrail and show where the TBM locations are.
 

ABB125

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This is great news!
Been chatting to people on Twitter about this announcement, We've all come to the agreement where they should do something like they did with Crossrail and show where the TBM locations are.
Nice as that would be, I wouldn't be surprised if the antis found a way to use that information to disrupt progress. Such as by (admittedly highly unlikely!) drilling a borehole from ground level directly in the path of the TBM, and filling it with a material that would destroy the cutting head.
 

Snow1964

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This is great news!
Been chatting to people on Twitter about this announcement, We've all come to the agreement where they should do something like they did with Crossrail and show where the TBM locations are.
Eurotunnel also did this, but it was a phone number with recorded message, updated weekly, listed each TBM, how much dug each week, total length from each start point for each of the 11 TBMs
 

Bald Rick

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Eurotunnel also did this, but it was a phone number with recorded message, updated weekly, listed each TBM, how much dug each week, total length from each start point for each of the 11 TBMs

Indeed so - and I called it every week! I still have the home made chart somewhere.
 

ExRes

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Such as by (admittedly highly unlikely!) drilling a borehole from ground level directly in the path of the TBM, and filling it with a material that would destroy the cutting head.

Thanks for the tip, where do you buy a sufficient supply of BR sandwiches though?
 

ABB125

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Thanks for the tip, where do you buy a sufficient supply of BR sandwiches though?
I'm not sure - perhaps there's someone out there with a collection of fossilised specimens who you could contact... :D

(I'm not old enough to have ever experienced a BR sandwich, but it sounds like they were fairly... robust!)
 

Polarbear

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I'm not sure - perhaps there's someone out there with a collection of fossilised specimens who you could contact... :D

(I'm not old enough to have ever experienced a BR sandwich, but it sounds like they were fairly... robust!)
I’m old enough & they were indeed “robust”. Mind you, I sometimes miss the days of pork pies with mustard & the Rugby “rock cakes” (scones anywhere else, but you get the picture).
 
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