Ealing residents show their opposition to HS2

1. Yes, Ian, I must agree that Paddington is very busy, but Crossrail will take over some of the suburban Thames valley traffic and provide a greater choice of connections to and from other parts of London and counties to the South and East.-of course, if a new interchange station were to be built at Old Oak Common, as is proposed as part of the HS2 plan, yet further journey options would be available, without the need to use the Paddington terminus at all.

   One reason for Paddington being so busy/ overloaded is, of course the Heathrow Express.
   This high priced premium service was squeezed into the station, and was on its own terms a great success, being financed by BAA, providing a welcome alternative to congested roads or a protracted journey by Underground.
   It also provided the incentive or necessity of electrifying all of the platform lines, although this will only become of use to the “real” Great Western services to South Wales and the West of England when they are electrified over the next few years.

   Whether or not the Crossrail service to Heathrow will largely replace Heathrow Express as the preferred means of access or whether they will complement one another remains to be seen

2. my first point is that there arent many demonstrators considering the alleged furore the hs2 debate has started !

   secondly, what is being done along the line from old oak to where the line diverges north from the great western line is essentially an UPGRADE of that line. therefore the idea that upgrades are somehow less contentious and less disruptive holds as much water as a sieve !

   when hs2 critics use the word upgrade they really mean build new lines somewhere else because that is what it effectively means. and the increasing congestion on rail and road needs to be addressed, it is only going to get worse. i find it very worrying that stophs2 have got into bed with the likes of wolfson and the rac foundation whose opposition to hs2 stems from the fact that they want to tarmac the entire country ! this was made clear in their evidence to the transport committee. so much for being against hs2 on environmental and fiscal grounds !

   • There are not many no – but there are not many nobel prize winners either, it doesnt make them wrong.

     Second point – the contention and disruption is real for locals and users im sure, it will be a bigger hassle to upgrade the line than make a new one. But its also easier to buy new than fix something and this is not the same as it being right or wrong, valid or invalid.

     I find it worrying that you quote John Prescott from Top Gear – talking about wanting to tarmac the entire country. You cant possibly believe that.

     • i didnt know he had said that but wolfson and co want more roads watch their anti hs2 evidence and anew line is better than an upgrade as seen by the west coast main line

   • We are missing out here.
     It is a golden opportunity to bring to the attention of the public at large the way our government is squandering our resources planning a new mega expensive rail link. At this point in time national resources should be directed elsewhere into education, home security and health, and this site, hopefully read by those interested in a very important aspect of our future, should not be allowed to descend into the nitpicking and distractions of many of the recent comments posted here.
     Our prime priority and main objective as far as I understand it is
     1/ to discuss how to bring this dilemma to the attention of the general public who will fund it out of their taxes, and
     2/ How to raise the funding to raise awareness of this expense to the public at large and not just in the HS2 corridor, who regrettably are still more interested in protecting their local environment than they are in the health, education, security and overall transport infrastructure of our nation as a whole.
     Keep us on track Joe; don’t let us be directed off onto a spur.

     • I would be more specific—

       — get 100,000 signatures on the govt epetition
       — get as many businesses as possible to add their name to the 200+ who have already declared their opposition
       both of these to be done before the party conferences
       — get as many MP’s on our side as possible

       all these will need action plans and support and I for one am prepared to do my bit

       • I’ll get back to you.

3. “Improving the existing infrastructure and routes” is an oft repeated suggestion proposed as an alternative to building a new line.

   Would this include the semi derelict link between Old Oak Common and South Ruislip, the former main line connection linking Paddington and the route to the West Midlands via High Wycombe?

   This line carried express services to and from not just Birmingham, but from Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Chester, North Wales and Birkenhead…until the decision was made in the 1960s to concentrate everything on the West Coast main lines from Euston through Rugby, a policy of “all eggs in one basket” which did not foresee the huge increase in rail travel in recent years,with the growth of towns along the route and the need for extra capacity and the need to bypass congested “pinch points” where long distance trains have no need to call but are constrained at present by the density of other traffic.

   • How would this help the impending rail capacity crisis? Paddington is extremely busy already – bursting at the seams actually – so extra trains running into it are hardly an option.

4. Is there an “official” e-petition on this?

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