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Yes, fast and slow trains share the tracks on other high speed lines, and that's my point. If HS2 is to fulfil it's potential as a truly modern railway do we want stopping trains taking up paths? I think once more stations are built there will be, over time, irresistible public pressure to...

That's absolutely correct, although the Treasury would naturally deny it. Should HS2 run out of money before the construction is finished the government would be obliged to ensure it's completion by one means or another. Just imagine the international embarrassment if HS2 was left half-built...

I love the idea that travelling by HS2 might be cheaper than using 'classic' services, and no doubt it's written down somewhere. I may not be a Luddite, but on this subject I'm a card-carrying sceptic.

Whilst I have every confidence that moving block signalling can increase path capacity, isn't 45tph a bit ambitious? I'm no Luddite but if HS2 is going to rely on this technology it's going to be one hell of a gamble. With the Dutch high speed experience in mind it's going to be difficult to...

The lines that were axed by Beeching could, in many cases, have reduced their running costs by the introduction of railbus type services and unmanned stations, but this wouldn't have changed the fact that many of these lines were very lightly used, and would never show a profit by Beeching's...

Since the Welsh Highland added 25 miles to the heritage total last year the Rother Valley Railway have been busy rebuilding the link between Robertsbridge and Bodiam; The Bluebell Railway is close to completing it's East Grinstead extension; Various bits of the former Somerset & Dorset now boast...

We now have a huge heritage railway industry in this country, with new track being opened on what seems like a weekly basis. Presumably the market for people to gawp at elderly steam locos is finite, so eventually market saturation will be reached. How much more track can we sustain? Is it time...

Many heritage railways started out with ambitions to run some commercial passenger and freight services, but as previous posters have pointed out, this hasn't really happened. I'd also take issue with the assertion that the opposition to line closure was a force worth harnessing. Many lines...

Inevitably, HS2 cannot be all things to all men. Diverting the line to take in more towns merely slows down what is supposed to be a high speed line. Running fast services alongside stopping trains is a system more appropriate to a Victorian railway than a 21st century one. Putting stopping...

Crossrail is planned to be, and will be built as a relief tube line. No amount of wishing will change that, although a big wodge of money might. Any offers?

Let's route HS2 through every one horse town between London and Reykjavik, slow everything down to 30mph, rename it NoSpeed2 and then everyone will be happy. Won't they?

Politicians like to appear important, so announcements such as those concerning HS2 are dressed up to look considered and statesmanlike. It's quite funny, really, as few MPs will have any in-depth knowledge of the project and will vote on purely political grounds. That's democracy.

"Crossrail is deliberately a Metro train service" Exactly. The people who first started to plan Crossrail had, no doubt, the option to build a long distance, high speed link across London and chose not to. The only sensible way of combining the two modes would (as has already been pointed out)...

There's a lot of huffing and puffing in steam preservation circles about Bittern's present guise as Dominion of New Zealand, but it wasn't just the A4s that changed identities. Many engines gained or lost names, numbers and liveries over the years. It's nice that we've got enough steam locos to...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14720101 BBC News: 'How High-visibility took over Britain'

Not only does most of the Portishead Branch survive with track, also the unused branch from this remains to Bristol Docks, including a substantial bridge over the River Avon. Although there is a big campaign to reopen the route to Portishead, a recent bid to get funding failed. No doubt they...

I don't deny that staff formerly employed by BR haven't gone abroad, although the scale of this is often exaggerated by the media. I seem to remember (several posts back now) that the point being made was that this would have happened under BR, which I think we agree, is not the case. The whole...

British Rail certainly employed a large number of highly skilled personnel, but these skills were often quite specific to the railways and not necessarily transferrable to other sectors of industry. In any case the so-called 'brain drain' is something of a myth, most people take work abroad on a...

We seem to be jumping to a whole raft of conclusions based on very shaky evidence. HS2 beyond Birmingham isn't really on the agenda presently, and future governments may well make major changes to the existing proposals. Although the present political mood is in favour of HS2, the case is a long...