- deskpilot
- 19 hours ago
The HS2 project is in a mess. The cost of the London to Birmingham link is now over £107bn, or 82 years worth of winter fuel payment savings.
The news that not a single piece of track had been ordered, let alone laid, has encouraged hovercraft fans to step forward.
Colin Keener, an enthusiastic advocate for British engineering, says that a hovercraft solution could cut costs and save the day.
'Hovercraft don't need any rails,' said Colin, stating the obvious. 'Getting to speeds of 220mph could be an issue, but jet engines would do the job. Steering could be a slight challenge, so the high speed hovercraft might need a guide wire. It is possible that carriages might sway a bit, but probably no worse than those pendolino trains.
He went on to say that the weight of hovercraft trains wouldn't be an issue as long as passenger numbers were restricted.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport acknowledged the proposal with a sigh. He pointed out that the £107bn cost of HS2 would be easily covered by the sale of 3.1 billion rail cards.
