4 ms·

HS2? I understand your vibe though.

celticninja 4y ago
HS2 is completely unnecessary though. Manchester to London is currently 2 hours. Unless it was going to halve that time, which it won't.
- cillian64 4y ago
  The point in hs2 isn’t mainly to reduce journey time, even though that is what is usually touted in news articles. It’s to increase capacity and reduce the contention between high speed intercity services and commuter services with many stops. The west coast main line is extremely busy and if you’re going to build more track you might as well build it for modern train speeds.
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  > Unless it was going to halve that time, which it won't. Why are people so mistaken about HS2. It doesn't halve the time, but IT INCREASES CAPACITY! The West Coast Mainline is congested, and so twisty it's like a rollercoaster in places.
  - smcl 4y ago
    I'm really confused, because everyone connected with rail seems to be completely 100% aligned on this and they'll repeatedly explain in very easy-to-digest terms the existing problems, and how HS2 will alleviate many of them. It seems like such a no-brainer. ... and yet so much of the public (and ... [sigh] the news and various politicians) seem to be laser-focussed on travel time, and loudly question whether a quicker north/south line is really worth it. And they'll often talk about the focus should instead be on improving utilisation of the existing without knowing that these main north/south lines are already very near capacity. If I was a rail guy in the UK I'd probably lose my mind.
    - thematrixturtle 4y ago
      The HS in HS2 stands for "High Speed", so people expect it to be, you know, higher speed than what we have today.
      - chrisseaton 4y ago
        It is higher speed. It's just not the speed you think it is. And higher peak speed doesn't linearly translate to lower journey time, as you need to speed up and slow down at either end!
      - smcl 4y ago
        People aren't stupid, they can understand that a project can deliver more benefits than just the words in a project's name. But you've got knowledgeable people patiently giving plain easy-to-digest descriptions on the benefits ... which are ignored entirely by those with a bigger platforms who boil it down to "do we really need the fast trains?"
    - nly 4y ago
      It's because travel time is the number 1 decided factor on where you live when you are commuting.
  - benj111 4y ago
    were you not there when the politicians were selling it? it was supposed to somehow help the north by cutting journey times.
    - chrisseaton 4y ago
      Wasn't that about the northern parts that they aren't working on right now? The lower parts that are going ahead with now were about capacity. "The government says that HS2 will free up capacity by taking the long distance trains off existing lines and on to the new high speed line." That's what they were talking about in 2013 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24159571 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24159571.
      - benj111 4y ago
        I seem to recall them talking about it as a whole? Maybe I just received the northern targeted sales pitch.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

HS2 is completely unnecessary though. Manchester to London is currently 2 hours. Unless it was going to halve that time, which it won't.

cillian64 4y ago
The point in hs2 isn’t mainly to reduce journey time, even though that is what is usually touted in news articles. It’s to increase capacity and reduce the contention between high speed intercity services and commuter services with many stops. The west coast main line is extremely busy and if you’re going to build more track you might as well build it for modern train speeds.
chrisseaton 4y ago
> Unless it was going to halve that time, which it won't. Why are people so mistaken about HS2. It doesn't halve the time, but IT INCREASES CAPACITY! The West Coast Mainline is congested, and so twisty it's like a rollercoaster in places.
- smcl 4y ago
  I'm really confused, because everyone connected with rail seems to be completely 100% aligned on this and they'll repeatedly explain in very easy-to-digest terms the existing problems, and how HS2 will alleviate many of them. It seems like such a no-brainer. ... and yet so much of the public (and ... [sigh] the news and various politicians) seem to be laser-focussed on travel time, and loudly question whether a quicker north/south line is really worth it. And they'll often talk about the focus should instead be on improving utilisation of the existing without knowing that these main north/south lines are already very near capacity. If I was a rail guy in the UK I'd probably lose my mind.
  - thematrixturtle 4y ago
    The HS in HS2 stands for "High Speed", so people expect it to be, you know, higher speed than what we have today.
    - chrisseaton 4y ago
      It is higher speed. It's just not the speed you think it is. And higher peak speed doesn't linearly translate to lower journey time, as you need to speed up and slow down at either end!
    - smcl 4y ago
      People aren't stupid, they can understand that a project can deliver more benefits than just the words in a project's name. But you've got knowledgeable people patiently giving plain easy-to-digest descriptions on the benefits ... which are ignored entirely by those with a bigger platforms who boil it down to "do we really need the fast trains?"
  - nly 4y ago
    It's because travel time is the number 1 decided factor on where you live when you are commuting.
- benj111 4y ago
  were you not there when the politicians were selling it? it was supposed to somehow help the north by cutting journey times.
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    Wasn't that about the northern parts that they aren't working on right now? The lower parts that are going ahead with now were about capacity. "The government says that HS2 will free up capacity by taking the long distance trains off existing lines and on to the new high speed line." That's what they were talking about in 2013 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24159571 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24159571.
    - benj111 4y ago
      I seem to recall them talking about it as a whole? Maybe I just received the northern targeted sales pitch.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]