This was originally published on HS2 Buzz.
“Roll up, roll up, get your HS2 stations here… don’t just have a railway, have your own station too! No village is too small to have a station for the new “North South” Railway”.
Now government has taken the “High Speed” out of High Speed Two, everyone is being encouraged to have a station, everywhere can be ‘transformed’. “Ask your local council to request one now while stocks last!”
Calling the train ‘The Two’ really wasn’t going to work, though some liked the minimalist idea of it. Various suggestions such as ‘Capacity Two’ or ‘The Mole’ were also suggested, ‘North South Train’ wasn’t actually very imaginative, but who in HS2 was employed for imagination?
Nobody you can think of…. exactly!
Ben Ruse was the closest they ever got to ‘ideas man’. A director at ‘Eminem Plaice’ or summat, he was brought in to improve PR… no really, stop laughing a minute and listen! The vociferous minority from the anti Hs2 campaign had been ‘running away with it’ in the PR war, so something needed to be done before any more damage was done.
Who actually thought of flogging the idea of ‘Operation Grab a Station’ is unclear, but seemingly it is now proving very popular. Stoke on Trent, Mansfield, Leigh, Aylesbury, they are all throwing their hats in the ring. If you cant stop the destruction, at least you have a chance of cashing in on the fantasy benefits.
Although the train will take all day to get to the end of its journey, just think of the capacity. Whatever you do, don’t think about the cost.