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If it's cheap and easy to build bigger tunnels with modern TBM technology, why wouldn't they? The tube lines of the capacity-challenged London Underground would be able to carry larger volumes, if they had been built to take bigger trains. I think this eventuality was considered in the...

Too high for a HS2-type operation with 'Continental' size trains. Otherwise, not too high. If 'Continental' size plain line tunnels are cheap and easy to build now with modern TBM technology, one might well ask, why are new metro lines around the world built with small diameter tunnels? Not...

Or alternatively, just run the fast train(s) in front of the slow one. Presumably, the New North Main Line would mean there wouldn't have to be a new line in a tunnel to a terminal station in central London. For HS2 the demand for travel is towards Manchester so the line has to turn...

If they would be using Ashendon Jn to South Ruislip, Metropolitan line "saturation" wouldn't be a factor, would it?

Why would anyone choose to route express trains via Aylesbury, or into Marylebone?

Not seen any evidence that the London-end of the route is 'saturated with Metropolitan Line and Chiltern commuter services'. Metropolitan doesn't even run through South Ruislip.

Where did I say that? If that's true, someone should tell the people doing the Waterloo and South West Upgrade that "there is no way to add more carriages to commuter trains into London".

Depends on what "easy way" means. Getting "more than 12 carriage trains out of Euston" is a daily occurrence.

Almost breaking even? I don't think so. This is Rail Delivery Group make-believe.

Mostly not stopping at Birmingham Interchange. "Effectively an extension of International"? The sites are nearly a mile apart. Curzon Street people mover?

"At least ten times faster?" I don't think so. But it is all rather academic, because single line working is very unlikely to be a practical proposition. Spending £18 billion to "have more options when there are engineering blockades than you have at present", is probably not a good use...

Presumably you meant to write "A reduction of fast paths to a half hourly frequency would allow less skip stopping". But from what has been written down, that is not the case. If the number of fast paths stays the same [ -1 VWC, +1 XC ], the stopping service has to stay more or less the...

I'd imagine people who live in Coventry and work in Birmingham might not want to be stuck on a train that stops at every station inbetween. For example. There's little, if any, evidence that it would allow skip stopping to be removed. Network Rail stated HS2 could allow more and faster...

The fast Birmingham - Coventry services also perform a local function. Because the line was, is, and will be mixed stopping 2-track, there is no way of "freeing up a lot of capacity for local services in & around the West Midlands". Does the shifting of traffic to the new HS2 allow...

Renewals aren't going to be very efficient if you just did them on weekends, or overnight. But that's what does and will happen on the WCML from Euston northwards, and on other lines. I didn't say it wasn't part of the programme cost. I said (i) the cost of the upgrade was not £9 billion or...

Actually, Manchester - London capacity for passengers has more than trebled, because longer 11-carriage trains were brought in, after the VHF timetable. I'm not sure how explicitly stating there were £6.5 billion of renewals, is "ignoring" anything. If there hadn't been upgrades, there...

The frequency went from every 60 minutes, down to every 20 minutes. I'd call that a trebling of capacity. I've provided a link to official information. Which states the upgrade value was £2.5 billion, at the time of calculation. Contingency for phase 1 is £6.3 bn (2015). Which no-one...

Despite GWM and WCRM being extremely poorly planned and managed, the evidence suggests they were still better value for money than building HS2. Not according to the government. An increase in the number of trains that could be worked end to end = An increase in capacity.

The only bit of the GWML running anywhere near its maximum current capacity is London - Reading. In much the same way, the only bit of the WCML running anywhere near current capacity, is the fast lines south of MK. So, apples and apples. But as has been pointed out, evidence for new...

I don't need to read the thread on GWR electrification to know about its problems. It was and is a poorly thought-out scheme, pulled out of a hat by Andrew Adonis. Much like HS2, in that regard. That doesn't alter the fact that upgrading existing lines is the norm, for a variety of...