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Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by willyt on Friday August 23, 2019 @04:07AM (#20775423)
Most expensive TGV route so far €15m/km. ~200km London-Birmingham. Therefore ~€3bn for the high speed line itself. €5bn each end for stations? €10bn for tunnels into London? The rest spent on typical British dicking around with procurement, only people worse at wasting money on getting stuff done is the US. I wonder if it’s to do with the way we contract things? Edit: another stat says €20m/km LGV Mediterranean.
Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by isostatic on Friday August 23, 2019 @04:49AM (#20775640)
There's a lot of tunneling on HS2 - including massive underground stations at Euston and OOC, a new station in Birmingham, and tunnelling in London and Chilterns.

That has to happen whether the trains run at 180mph or 80mph.

Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by willyt on Friday August 23, 2019 @05:31AM (#20775798)
LGV Mediterranean has to negotiate the hilly terrain in southern France. Plenty of tunnels and viaducts. €20m/km. Way less than us. The problem is with how we manage construction projects in the UK.
Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by tonyedgecombe on Friday August 23, 2019 @06:15AM (#20776019)
It's hard to compare, the UK is more densely populated, twice as high as France. My guess is a lot went into buying off property owners.
Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by isostatic on Friday August 23, 2019 @11:13AM (#20778459)
They budgeted £1.1b, but have already spent £2b
Re:A Look at HS2's Old Oak Common Station by handelaar on Friday August 23, 2019 @10:26AM (#20777962)
You'd be amazed just how poorly dynamite works for making miles of tunnel, in between up to 12 layers of pre-existing tunnels, through wet central London clay.