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Post by snoggle on Mar 14, 2017 14:04:40 GMT
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Post by redexpress on Mar 14, 2017 15:01:23 GMT
Oh dear. It's hard to see where the extra cash would come from at the moment, so perhaps an "alternative scheme that may be more affordable" could be the way forward. If there is such a scheme, that is. Were there any lower-cost options than the one that was chosen?
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Post by snoggle on Mar 14, 2017 16:52:11 GMT
Oh dear. It's hard to see where the extra cash would come from at the moment, so perhaps an "alternative scheme that may be more affordable" could be the way forward. If there is such a scheme, that is. Were there any lower-cost options than the one that was chosen? Well this is what you get when you have a ridiculous political expedient (a general election) coupled with a Mayor who knew he was going out of City Hall. The decision to transfer the scheme to TfL and use some TfL funding was a late decision to "give something to Watford" to try to keep the Tory MP in power. That MP is very fond of saying he has personally organised and approved every last decision that positively affects Watford. Bozza and Osborne cooked up a funding deal which lumbered TfL / LU with the cost of any / all overruns but allowed them to retain any savings against the set project cost. Of course the scheme was not properly designed nor costed at the point of transfer so LU was forced to do a review. I understand the scheme has already been pared back to the absolute bare minimum while preserving the planned stations. The only next step is to reduce the scope of the scheme fundamentally like omitting stations or providing single track. However this will then reduce the business case - possibly to the point of rendering the whole thing a waste of time. I am of the view this scheme should not have any London funding anyway. It's not a London scheme - most of the benefits arise in Watford itself and there are considerable risks that are not settled. The Watford MP wants LU to retain services to Watford Met *and* also run them to Watford Junction. There aren't enough trains to do that. Furthermore there are signalling issues in terms of avoiding, if possible, interim signalling on the Croxley extension before SSR ATO can be introduced. There are also unresolved, AFAIK, issues about how and when the new line could be integrated into NR's lines near Watford High Street. This is a significant risk given NR's well known issues with resignalling schemes and the general lack of signalling expertise in the UK. Slippage and a lack of clarity on signalling solutions translates to potential delay and more cost risk. Clearly City Hall have decided that enough is enough and there is simply not the scope to find yet another £50m. This is a DfT / Herts scheme and DfT and Herts have to find the money or else take responsibility for cancelling the scheme. I don't see what passengers in the TfL area should suffer another £50m of cuts to fund a scheme benefitting Watford residents. It's now a case of "who blinks first".  |
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Post by busman on Mar 14, 2017 18:15:13 GMT
Oh dear. It's hard to see where the extra cash would come from at the moment, so perhaps an "alternative scheme that may be more affordable" could be the way forward. If there is such a scheme, that is. Were there any lower-cost options than the one that was chosen? Well this is what you get when you have a ridiculous political expedient (a general election) coupled with a Mayor who knew he was going out of City Hall. The decision to transfer the scheme to TfL and use some TfL funding was a late decision to "give something to Watford" to try to keep the Tory MP in power. That MP is very fond of saying he has personally organised and approved every last decision that positively affects Watford. Bozza and Osborne cooked up a funding deal which lumbered TfL / LU with the cost of any / all overruns but allowed them to retain any savings against the set project cost. Of course the scheme was not properly designed nor costed at the point of transfer so LU was forced to do a review. I understand the scheme has already been pared back to the absolute bare minimum while preserving the planned stations. The only next step is to reduce the scope of the scheme fundamentally like omitting stations or providing single track. However this will then reduce the business case - possibly to the point of rendering the whole thing a waste of time. I am of the view this scheme should not have any London funding anyway. It's not a London scheme - most of the benefits arise in Watford itself and there are considerable risks that are not settled. The Watford MP wants LU to retain services to Watford Met *and* also run them to Watford Junction. There aren't enough trains to do that. Furthermore there are signalling issues in terms of avoiding, if possible, interim signalling on the Croxley extension before SSR ATO can be introduced. There are also unresolved, AFAIK, issues about how and when the new line could be integrated into NR's lines near Watford High Street. This is a significant risk given NR's well known issues with resignalling schemes and the general lack of signalling expertise in the UK. Slippage and a lack of clarity on signalling solutions translates to potential delay and more cost risk. Clearly City Hall have decided that enough is enough and there is simply not the scope to find yet another £50m. This is a DfT / Herts scheme and DfT and Herts have to find the money or else take responsibility for cancelling the scheme. I don't see what passengers in the TfL area should suffer another £50m of cuts to fund a scheme benefitting Watford residents. It's now a case of "who blinks first". I applaud TfL for their stance on this issue. It was very cheeky of BoJo to put this on TfL knowing that the government was to cut their funding to the bone. Now at a time when London bus services are being cut and massive capital expenditure programmes are needed to replace ageing tube and DLR stock, I don't see why my council tax and fares should fund a new tube link from Watford. Watford already has the London Overground, Southern and London Midland. For everything else there's a 142 or 258! |
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Post by wirewiper on Nov 10, 2020 8:59:07 GMT
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Post by ronnie on Nov 10, 2020 9:27:02 GMT
If there’s more cash, why not spend it on something more useful. Like a new river crossing in east London for example - or replace Hammersmith bridge! |
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Post by wirewiper on Nov 10, 2020 9:53:13 GMT
If there’s more cash, why not spend it on something more useful. Like a new river crossing in east London for example - or replace Hammersmith bridge! The cash is specifically for "shovel-ready" projects that can start immediately and generate employment - I don't think either the Silvertown Tunnel or a new Hammersmith Bridge qualify. |
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