Search results

Yes. But if you don’t look at all possible options you haven’t don’t your job correctly. Folk can’t moan that not all the options have been assessed and then complain when some of the options look ridiculous. And the reverse S is exactly what some have been arguing for on the other thread to get...

You mean like this? (Image shows ‘Figure 4 Strategic route options’ which is three side by side maps of different routes between London and the Scottish central belt. None represent the final Y-shaped design).

I would argue that those opposed to the project have simply chosen to ignore the messaging and communication. That continues to this very day.

There is also a general overview of the process published as HS2 railway, UK: route optioneering in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers– Transport. https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.18.00070 Figure 6 clearly shows how many corridors were assessed and removed before getting down to...

Jesus, have you seen the safety record of the Brightline? A total of 196 deaths involved collisions with Brightline trains between 2018 and 2025. Sounds like the construction involved not paying for some pretty major safety features which, quite rightly, would be mandatory here.

3.40 (3.30 from OOC) is still pretty good and would result in a big market share transfer for both Edinburgh and Glasgow. 3.06 from Interchange and 3.20 from Curzon Street would largely eliminate the Birmingham Airport-Central belt flights. As a regular on the Bristol-Glasgow easyJet route 3.06...

Thanks. I would be interested to see more recent annual figures, because those are a) for the summer months only (April-August so selective) and b) still in the 2022 late pandemic era-businesses have been encouraging a return to face to face work/meeting over the last four years. The...

Pricing is certainly an issue. Japan and France both offer cheaper fares via their classic stopping services and in the context of flying still managed to reduce the numbers (with or without the 2023 law in France which only really applies to a small handful of routes). In terms of the market...

My better idea would be to learn the lessons of WCML upgrade and build a bypass railway in order to avoid having years of disruption for existing users and spending billions up billions of pounds (15 at today’s prices) while failing to achieve long term capacity benefits. Perhaps I shall call my...

We’re not and haven’t over the few pages been talking about England though. I and other posters have been completely clear (to quote you) we are talking about the UK. That includes Scotland.

OOC is 10 min quicker to/from Scotland than Euston and has better access to places west of London via public transport than Heathrow.

You are right that Edinburgh is about 4 hours and rail has about 50% of the Edinburgh/London (train/plane) share. Hence why 4 hours is the so called ‘magic number’. As you dip under (as only HS2 can take it) the share will fall dramatically. And because of the much long journey times rail’s...

This is complete nonsense. A single project can have more than one aim and can achieve multiple objectives. The ‘rationale’ of the French when they built LGV Sud-East in the early 1980s was not to reach a point where they could ban Paris-Lyon flights in 2023.

The discussion before this had largely been in reference to Britain/UK, and the post you responded to as wrong wrong wrong was explicit in referencing UK flights and mobility within the UK. HS2 to Golborne delivers journey times from London to Scotland and Birmingham to Scotland in well below...

Do you mean England or the UK?

They will have been subject to exactly the same CPO process as everyone else.

You have to pay the conveyancers/surveyors/Land Registry fees/taxes etc regardless.

Plus fees and costs. And yet you expect we can build it at £20 million per km when you’re spending 2.5% of your total budget buying the cheapest land. In urban areas it’s more like a million pounds an acre. So that’s £2.5 plus 30% (plus fees and costs). So over 16% (not including fees and costs)...

Given that all land in the UK (including agricultural land) is significantly more expensive than France can you imagine how much more over budget HS2 would be if they were paying a 30% premium on the land?

That is true to a degree but you have to remember if you sell your land on the open market you pay all your legal/surveyor/etc fees. If you go down the compulsory purchase route the purchaser (HS2 in this case) is required to give reasonable compensation for any fees which are reasonably...