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I dont understand how HS2 is not the number 1 priority to link the dying cities of the north to london, its important to have good communications, its such a ti
by ionwake 2y ago
I dont understand how HS2 is not the number 1 priority to link the dying cities of the north to london, its important to have good communications, its such a tiny island anyway. Get a grip, and make the line extend to the northern territories, that was literally the whole point.
- graemep 2y agoBritain is not a tiny island. its the ninth largest in the word and is a lot bigger than Java (population of 156m BTW) and is only a little smaller than Honshu. The cities of the north are not dying. Some are doing badly, some are doing well. its not a given that what they need most is better links to London- better links between northern cities might do more.
- rwmj 2y agoIt's good that you compared us to Honshu because the Japanese have managed to build a high speed line connecting both ends of that island, with a lot less drama. Whereas we have a high speed line that doesn't even go to the centre of our capital city.
- ionwake 2y agolmao
- ionwake 2y agoInteresting points thanks, I still disagree on your final point, however I agree more train links needed.
- Symbiote 2y agoSeveral of the better links between Northern cities were dependent on HS2 — either directly, by providing rail links where none currently exist, or indirectly, by freeing up space on existing lines to allow more local and regional services.
- switch007 2y agoSuch as?
- chgs 2y agoManchester to Liverpool and Birmingham, Birmingham to Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle All relied on phase 2 though, freeing up capacity through Stockport and winsford, adding it for man-Liverpool/glasgow, freeing up the painful cross country services from Leeds, etc
- panick21_ 2y agoIts crazy how nobody understands what HS2 was designed to do.
- GJim 2y agoI blame the name "High Speed 2". It was never about improving speed (at least not in any meaningful sense), it was about improving capacity.
- panick21_ 2y agoYes. A smarter way to do this was not having some separate thing. It should just be 'BritishRail' and 'HS2' should simple be one of many 'Future BritishRail' upgrade paths. You could call the project, 'HighSpeed North-South Mainline'. Make it boring so sensationalized headlines aren't as interesting. Make people who are against it answer the question "Why are you against the rail system". Now they constantly say 'Pro Rail, against HS2' (even if that's BS).
- chgs 2y ago“WCML 6 track project”
- switch007 2y agoIt's crazy how oversold the project is/was too. Honestly some people believe it will fix every congestion problem in England
- panick21_ 2y agoBritain might be big for an island but it isnt for a country. And somehow Germany, France and even Italy have high speed rail. So does Taiwan and Japan and Korea. The idea that Britain should have decent North South High Speed rail is crazy. Also, density really drops off in the upper part of Britain, the density below the North England cities is very high. And HS2 was exactly designed for that, and to open capacity on the rest of the system. The North as whole isnt doing great. The numbers are pretty clear. HS2 creating fast north south connection and opening up the rest of the rail system was exactly what was needed. Yes, more investment in Northern rail in general is needed as well, but it would be completly counter-productive to not do HS2 to do that instead.
- switch007 2y agoWhitehall doesn't believe in ROI in the north and it's been that way for decades and decades. Well, that's they excuse they use anyway Birmingham got lucky as it's just feasible enough to turn it in to a commuting city for London but other cities are too far
- thebruce87m 2y agoNote: even though the article is from an .co.uk and talks about the UK government, when English people talk about the “north” they implicitly mean “north of England”, not the north of the UK, even when talking in the context of the UK. This comment even talks about the “island”, but is implicitly talking about the centre of the island when referring to the “north”.
- randomcarbloke 2y agoit's a token gesture to the pronvicials...a show of unity. It will never recoup it's cost, nobody north of the Watford Gap wants to work in London, and nobody in London wants to work north of the Gap. London is international first, parochial second.