A YouGov/LBC poll reveals that HS2 is not popular in Birmingam – the only city it’s due to link to London in Phase 1 of the project. These are some of the reports from LBC’s Nick Ferrari breakfast programme.
Separate interiews with other main critics are also on the Stop HS2 Youtube site here.
PEOPLE OF BIRMINGHAM :
HS2 IS THE FUTURE
In 2026 , Go for the Brand-new,
‘ State – of – the – Art – Trains ‘,
Reliable , Punctual ,
Comfortable , Fast ,
As Never Before .
PEOPLE OF COVENTRY
HS2 IS ALSO YOUR FUTURE
In 2026 you will get fewer and slower services to London, with more intermediate stops, on less comfortable trains (designed to handle commuter traffic not long-distance) and picking up commuters at stations like Milton Keynes in the peak hours. Maintenance standards on the WCML are also likely to suffer as the fare revenues will be cut due to fewer pasengers using the services.
I wonder how many of the people in Birmingham , who do not want HS2 , but do not want to get to to their destination as quickly as possible , and would prefer to spend up to 80 minutes extra sitting in a train , on a Day Trip , rather than more time at their destination or at home before leaving in the morning or arriving back earlier in the evening . I know which I would prefer , but perhaps some people in Birmingham love trains so much that want to spend as much as possible
in them. This seems to set a unique historical transport
precedent. Or , we could campaign for a High Speed
Tramway , with no day trips possible.
Simon, to answer your question, ask yourself how many residents of Birmingham want to board a train on the outskirts destined for Wormwood Scrubs in the middle of a derelict railway marshalling yard next to a prison and still miles away from London city centre?….If in the unlikely event that they are tripping over one another in pursuit of that dubious objective, one then has to ask one’s self: How many will still be alive in 2030 when the thing throws open it’s doors to welcome them?….
(forget about 2026. The time table has already slipped by 2 years)
The trouble is, HS2 has jettisoned most of it’s original brief in an attempt to stay within a spending envelope. One that despite the foregoing, it will still breach whilst having shed most of it’s raison d’etre…..As things stand, it just looks like a profligate, priapic vanity folly for the deluded……not a good look
When hs2 starts operating will chiltern line continue to run Birmingham to London or will they start further down the line?