| Population | GDP | |
| London | 8,945,309 | £617,915 |
| South East | 9,482,507 | £391,807 |
| North West | 7,600,126 | £270,833 |
| East of England | 6,468,665 | £229,264 |
| South West | 5,811,259 | £207,643 |
| Scotland | 5,490,100 | £204,188 |
| West Midlands | 6,085,687 | £195,208 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 5,594,126 | £182,509 |
| East Midlands | 4,991,265 | £156,953 |
| Wales | 3,164,404 | £92,767 |
| North East | 2,711,380 | £77,498 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,920,384 | £63,265 |
Completely disagree, Stratford is not a 'regional shopping centre', its one of the biggest transport hubs in London! In the last ORR figures it had 51,473,518 entries/exits, plus probably same again who stopped there without gettting off who could use HS2 if it was there. Plus it's a major TFL interchange not in these figures. As a comparison Euston was 40,248,974.
The benefit I could see, is that if St Pancras's passenger handling capacity is the limiting factor on Eurostar services, then having an alternative international station with the full security setup, which was a same-station interchange for direct services from those places you mention could be quite attractive.
I actually meant to say I agreed with you, but I still didn't actually think of it that way. I treated it as if the city centre was going to expand. Matter of fact terminating the route at Old Oak Common with onward connections of the Elizabeth Line would be following the Chinese model where the terminus station is connected to the city centre via metro which isn't the right way of going about it.
Youre forgetting HS2 runs both ways. You're right that for people starting from the 'top' (i.e. by residents of the Midlands, Northwest etc), central London will be the main thing, but for those starting at the south, it's suburban London, Hertforshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire etc. that needs to be connected, as only a small % live in central London. And Stratford connects a lot of this better than OOC or Euston.
Are you serious? Stratford is the link to the whole of East London and the surrounding counties. Its like OOC but much better connected
I agree this way round is higher, but if HS2 did away with the having to go through the tube network to Euston, then it could take a large chunk of the journeys the other way around. And if the government succeeds in reducing the north/south divide, it will be this way round that grows.
I would run around half of them to Ebbsfleet or Ashford (i.e. extend some to Ashford) so not requiring any extra infrastracture apart from the HS2-1 link.
Ebbsfleet is not far off an M25 Parkway station
A lot of people live on the wrong side though, and 3 or more trains becomes 1, plus a huge time saving - the scope for time saving across London is probably greater than London-Birmingham (or other pairs)! The alternative of driving round half the M25 to a parkway station the other side like you're suggesting (which I also think is sensible) is often a 2hr journey at the wrong time of day.
), but nevertheless interesting.
Getting from The City is quicker via the Elizabeth Line to OCC than to Euston. How well connected do you want it?
Agreed. I would add that sending 20 trains (10 tph per direction) of ~1000 people all onto the rail connections at OOC is likely to cause overloading. There isn't capacity for an extra 20,000 passengers per hour there. Splitting the passengers between OOC and Euston spreads the load and prevents onward travel options from becoming too overloaded.
Liverpool was to do that with its Outer Loop Metro line, with a six platform parkway station at Broad Green in he east of the city on the Liverpool-Manchester line, and Liverpool South parkway station to the south of the city, on a second Manchester line and the WCML. Few need then enter the city centre to get to long haul destination trains like London. Work started but then Thatcher got into power.
Look at the map, OOC is well connected and can be even better if Acton North is moved down the line the length of the platforms, giving a Tube-Overground interchange. Also lifts can drop down to a pedestrian tunnel to OCC mainline.
Agreed. You'd be actively trying to build the traffic and demand in line with EU integration policies. That's where a Stratford stop (with all its connections like OOC) could come into play as an alternative London domestic destination as well as another international boarding point. You could transfer straight from GWR expresses to European trains at OOC. That 2tph would easily fit through the single bore connection but Camden would require some work. It's all fantasy since Brexit, clearly, so the industry must focus on hubbing via London.
I'd guess far more are heading for a myriad of destinations all over central and greater London, while others are heading to countless places beyond the city across the South East, for which London acts as a super hub.
