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Take for example, Glasgow Central to London Terminals via air. It'll take you twenty minutes to get out to Glasgow Airport, about an hour to get onto the plane, 90 minutes to get to Heathrow, fifteen minutes to come off the plane, 20 minutes to get into London. So, between three and a half and...

It's part of the Northern entrance rebuild. Should be done by Christmas, with the current roof and entrance replaced with plate glass.

The crayonistas at High Speed North have put their alternative plan for the Pennines and wow, it's bad. I guess that nobody in the Spen Valley told them what a stupid idea that a high-speed link from the transpennine lines into Bradford would be.

Ah, so you're one of those people who thinks that Skype will reduce demand in the railways, despite the fact that the wide penetration of 4G hasn't stopped growth in railway demand. "Teleconferencing will reduce the need to commute" is right up there with "biomass will reduce the need for...

Hell, even raising fuel duty in line with inflation would be better than current government policy, which is nominal cuts in the levy. Road transport accounts for nearly 30% of all CO2 emissions in the UK; that's more than the entire energy sector, and more than manufacturing.

By that argument, motorways are vanity projects writ large, given most motorways since the original autobahns have been created by governments who wanted what Germany had. That's not even getting into the wide-scale corruption involved in the director of a large road-building company closing...

The fact that Platform 17 needs lengthening is one of those things that's obvious but everyone seems to overlook; after all, Platform 17's length is pretty much the reason why they can't run a more intensive service on the Cas lines (as the platform isn't big enough for two trains)

Hasn't the TWAO sat on Grayling's desk for over three years by now? I don't think a petition is going to help him miraculously find the paperwork, but I've signed it anyway.

One of the seemingly paradoxical things is, in some places, battery electric vehicles aren't really that much more green than hybrid electrics. In France, where green electricity production is 123% of demand (80% nuclear, 43% renewables), then BEVs are a no-brainer. But the UK still makes up a...

The configuration of the western approach isn't too bad; the biggest problem is that KGX trains have to hold up BDI trains, because none of the bays south of the barriers are long enough for a IC125/225/Azuma.

The idea that HS2 is taking away from the classic rail budget is completely erroneous and is logic based within an austerity mindset. Indeed, the alternative interventions that anti-HS2 types call for could be done alongside HS2 without long-term pressure on public finances; infrastructure...

I'm pretty sure that the configuration of 13 and 14 are such that they could allow for another set of through tracks with minimal effort (although you might have to close the centre track between 11 and 12), which could theoretically allow HS2 to use 15 & 16, although you'd probably need to...

The Greens came out with some more rubbish yesterday in response to Labour's bus strategy. It's a bit weird that a party that's supposedly against austerity is going with the line that cancelling HS2 will "free up money" for the rest of the network.

In my view, Byng does seem to be throwing extra costs on for the sake of justifying the figure. Like, costing for two Euston stations because of "operational independence" meaning they can't have a combined station, or costing the electrification on the GWML debacle.

The Strategic Case clearly states that, in 2011 terms, the estimated cost with contingencies for HS2 is £21.4bn for Phase 1, £21.2bn for Phase 2, and £7.5bn for rolling stock. At some point, I imagine the rolling stock cost got rolled into the headline figure to make it seem like HS2's budget is...

One of the things that HS2 Ltd hasn't really been able to combat is the myth that the budget is "blowing up". The budget is still the same as it was in 2013: £42.6bn (in 2011 terms) for the actual infrastructure and £7.5bn (again, in 2011 terms) for the rolling stock, each with sizeable...

Phase 2b(E) isn't as necessary as Phase 2b(W), but to cancel it would be incredible political naivety; there is a palpable feeling in Leeds that the government has repeatedly shafted the Leeds area, and between Regional Eurostar, Supertram, electrification, and devolution, I have to agree.

Yeah, the centre of gravity of the town centre hasn't appreciably moved in the ten years I've lived in Leeds. If anything, it's moved westwards, with redevelopment around the station, the opening of Trinity and the poshification of the Victoria Gate area. With that said, reopening Marsh Lane...

Serious question: if we re-opened the GCML instead, where would it terminate, and how would it get into London?

Yeah, the NEF report is a good step for identifying useful interventions, but I imagine some of them are effectively required with or without HS2. Like, for example, Crossrail to Tring, which was supposed to happen but got kiboshed by the government.