this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2026
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We've been 'building' a high speed rail route here in the UK for over a decade now. It'll probably not be finished for another 10 years, isn't going to reach as many cities as first planned, will probably cost as much as m**k is worth by the end, tickets will likeky cost you three legs and you'll no doubt always arrive at your destination late!
I get your point, but don't get too jealous of the idea!!
That's due to corruption, not because ~~AVEs~~ high speed rails are hard to build (and the UK is much flatter than Spain..)
I understood that some stupid old laws were involved too, allowing any random village to veto infrastructure like this (sounds good in theory, but doesn't really work in practice)
Also modern ones, such as animal protection laws requiring a 900m tunnel to protect bats, at a cost of £100 million.
I don't think it is (only) corruption. I blame two things, on one side there is no meaningful and certainly no long term political support for high speed rail infrastructure, neither in politics nor among voters on the other side legislation is seriously anti-rail development. Laws are tough on any infrastructure projects, causing overheads larger than the actual construction costs (possibly even multifold larger) but they are especially hostile against rail projects and even against operating rail.
Geography isn't even part of that equation, it is an entirely different debate. (California is not so different from Spain, dry, mix of mountains and flats etc)
If only. It’s the universal western sickness of every change being up for endless debate, hearings and vetoes while doing nothing is seen as the default. Of course doing nothing is just as much a choice as doing something…
And yet it’s likely to get much worse, after we recover from seeing what happens when you DOGE it. The only bright spot here is the more illegal actions can be eventually walked back in court. That doesn’t undo the damage, but we’re going to need more laws like that
We in germany got u. We have this mega-project called 'Stuttgart 21', and it is going to be the new main station for Stuttgart. The completion was originally planned for 2019. It got repeatedly delayed, with the latest date for completion now being 2031. It is also severely over budget. If it comes to incompetence for mega-projects, germany is number 1 lol.
Worst competition ever
Stuttgart 21 is terribly late and over budget but it is a reasonable project in my opinion, even if many see that differently. There are some issues with it but overall it will be a considerable upgrade. Very substantial progress has already been made.
That said, Germany is a really negative model for rail development in Europe. It is still on another planet compared to the US though.
And Brandenburg Airport.
We don’t even have a shitty long distance high speed rail to talk about, so we have to admire yours.