From the HS2 Consultation documents:
The questions on which the Government is seeking views are set out below. In each case, the Government is interested in whether or not you agree with its proposals and why, as well as any additional evidence that you feel it should consider in reaching its final decisions.
iii) This question is about how to deliver the Government’s proposed network (Chapter 3):
Do you agree with the Government’s proposals for the phased roll-out of a national high speed rail network, and for links to Heathrow Airport and the High Speed 1 line to the Channel Tunnel?
A valid case for investment in a high speed rail network has not been made by the Government.
Alternative improvements to the railway system – such as Rail Package 2 – would not require phasing, because they cost such a small amount of money in comparison to the £33 billion the government propose to spend on building HS2 to Manchester and Leeds.
Stop HS2’s answer to this question is “no”.
Ken Livingstone’s suggestion that HS2 should continue under London to the South is interesting. Could really change the economics of the whole proposal and massively reduce loading on the Underground.
Thought it was a good idea myself…..considering that Waterloo has platform capacity after Eurostar was transfered to St Pancras.
The Heathrow connection is interesting. In opposition, the Tories argued that high speed rail was essential because it removed the need for Heathrow expansion. Now, in government, they’ve abandoned that argument and one of their key reasons for HS2
.
Meanwhile, Birmingham airport’s bosses are wetting themselves. http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta/news/2011/01/birmingham-airport-potential.aspx
Then there’s the connection to HS1. If you want to go by train to the south of France via Paris you have to transfer from one terminus to another, so why not here?
I dont know if they have abandoned what they said about heathrow as they intend to build a connection in stage 2. maybe they could then build a spur under the south side of heathrow to connect to the lines into waterloo and use the disused original eurostar platforms. the euston rebuild need not then be so comprehensive.
as fas as paris is concerned there has been talk about building a second line to paris via amiens which is a bit shorter and could be used exclusively by london bound trains. one thing the french would like to do is have more direct connections and one main tgv station – there is talk of it.
i think whether you agree with hs2 or not if we are going to do it we need to do it properly and right first time. we have the opportunity to build a link to where people actually are going – and it is a safe bet that Euston probably isnt it !!! The london terminals are mostly where they are because people at the time didnt want the railway nearer to where they lived – has a familiar ring to it doesnt it ?? and it is understandable but cant be the only criteria unfortunately.
This is a list of key issues facing the economy, posted by a respected commentator last week. Why didn’t he mention how slow the train was between London and Birmingham? Strange.
The credit crunch is MASKING several sweeping changes:
– Broadband communications – increasing capacity
– Global competition, especially from India and China
– Social media – this is just the start!
– A new generation of buyers with different buying behaviours
– The ubiquitous smartphone
– Mobility with 3G, Wireless Lan, Bluetooth
– An explosion of information – making it harder for your message to get through
– Cloud computing – watch this space
– Pockets of debt which can errupt like volcanoes in unexpected places
– Mind-boggling software functionality targetted at business applications
– Population explosion and scarcity of resources
– The green movement
– The shrinkage of the public sector
– Interest rates that are about to take off
– Currency disruption – Euro, dollar, pound – we have seen THE FIRST rumblings only
– Video online as a mainstream method of communication
My personal answer to this would be no…….I see HS2 as a nationwide project, so the whole thing should be built in 1 go to maximise the national economic benefit right away.