Is the high speed dream begining to fade?: The uncertainty and very public debate over HS2 continues to spark heated debate amongst readers of The Engineer

摘要

Well at least HS2 has got engineering in the news. Capacity is of course the real reason for justifying the project. Another supporting one I would add is that the UK suffers from the twin issues of having the world's oldest network - compounded by the fact that due to an abundance of coal it continued far later in the steam age than was good for it, and the network shows the mark of this from tight rail curvatures, narrow tunnels, arguably difficulties with signaling etc. By preserving old bridges even we cannot take advanteages of new forms of civil engineering (composites anyone?) HS2 should allow for a demonstration of how a 21st century version of what is disparagingly often called a Victorian technology - can be built - without the drag of the legacy of the past. Of course by allowing the bean counters (of both shades of green) to have undue influence if it does go ahead, we will end up with one that may as well have been designed and built with 1965 technolgies.