China bids for HS2

[Sampanviking]

I imagine that a big difference comes from a company that has built thousands of mile of high speed track over the last 15 years competing against companies that have not laid so much as an inch in their entire corporate histories.



I have actually seen some of these construction works up front when they were connecting Shenzhen to Guangzhou and they seem to underpin the whole length with these large concrete trenches that the tracks sit on rather than the natural ground surface.



As for the Environmental cost, I would say that the money saved by using the Chinese would enable a generous budget to restore and reinstate adjacent natural habitats and still show a healthy saving to the tax payer.

[patman post]

The only way China can do the job cheaper would be to use harsh labour conditions and ignore health and safety and environmental conditions.

You could be correct. But companies load all types of charges on to bids for military and national (including the NHS) projects. So I wouldn't dismiss the claim that one experienced authority could complete the project more quickly and for less cost than DfT's providers have quoted. Besides, they'd be operating under UK employment law...

[papasmurf]

Why should you? It was mainly Chinese labour working under harsh conditions that built the pioneering transcontinental railroads in America. Doubt CRCC will impose similar harsh conditions on workers here if engaged to build the 350 miles of the UK's HS2 project...

The only way China can do the job cheaper would be to use harsh labour conditions and ignore health and safety and environmental conditions.

[patman post]

Couldn't resist it:-

Why should you? It was mainly Chinese labour working under harsh conditions that built the pioneering transcontinental railroads in America. Doubt CRCC will impose similar harsh conditions on workers here if engaged to build the 350 miles of the UK's HS2 project...

[papasmurf]

Couldn't resist it:-

[patman post]

I really can't take this seriously. Can you imagine Communist China with bulldozers running amok through the UK countryside with little or no thought for the niceties of green belt, historic houses or area of special beauty, building their line completely straight regardless of obstacles? Having said all that with the runaway debacle that HS2 seem to be running their input might be useful. The trouble is that once you let the tiger - or should that be dragon - loose then we might have a lot of trouble getting it back in. Perhaps dear Auntie Beeb is still trying to get a Labour government in charge.  

The BBC (and others) is just passing on the news. The original story seems to have been uncovered by Building magazine:



Chinese firm offers to build HS2 and save 'tens of billions'

14 February 2020 By Joey Gardiner

CRCC will work with UK government 'if necessary'

Cut costs or lose business, HS2 review tells contractors

By Jordan Marshall12 February 2020

Oakervee report says winning civil firms have inflated prices to cover risks

HS2 has been told to consider reprocuring its main civil engineering contractors for the first phase of the project if they do not agree to cut costs.

Firms lined up for work, officially valued at £6.6bn, include Balfour Beatty, Vinci, Costain, Skanska, Sir Robert McAlpine and Kier. They were all awarded the two-stage contracts back in July 2017.

https://www.building.co.uk/news/cut-costs-or-lose-business-hs2-review-tells-contractors/5104274.article">https://www.building.co.uk/news/cut-cos ... 74.article">https://www.building.co.uk/news/cut-costs-or-lose-business-hs2-review-tells-contractors/5104274.article



No way to run a railway, huh...?

[papasmurf]

I really can't take this seriously. Can you imagine Communist China with bulldozers running amok through the UK countryside with little or no thought for the niceties of green belt, historic houses or area of special beauty, building their line completely straight regardless of obstacles? Having said all that with the runaway debacle that HS2 seem to be running their input might be useful. The trouble is that once you let the tiger - or should that be dragon - loose then we might have a lot of trouble getting it back in. Perhaps dear Auntie Beeb is still trying to get a Labour government in charge.  

Quite, plus I suspect the Chinese have no concept of compulsory purchase or compensation to landowners and property owners.

[T00ts]

I really can't take this seriously. Can you imagine Communist China with bulldozers running amok through the UK countryside with little or no thought for the niceties of green belt, historic houses or area of special beauty, building their line completely straight regardless of obstacles? Having said all that with the runaway debacle that HS2 seem to be running their input might be useful. The trouble is that once you let the tiger - or should that be dragon - loose then we might have a lot of trouble getting it back in. Perhaps dear Auntie Beeb is still trying to get a Labour government in charge.  

[patman post]

The UK is in talks with China over giving Beijing's state-owned railway builder a role in constructing the HS2 high-speed rail line.

China's state railway company said it could build the line in just five years and at a much lower cost.

Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP and chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said the UK was in "dire need" of a strategy around its relationship with China.

Mr Tugendhat told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Saturday: "Have we decided to take back control from Brussels only to hand it over to Beijing?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51512831">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51512831



He also doesn't think it's wise to let China behave around the world just like Britain did for a couple of hundred years...