However, I think that HS3 should actually be the section from Birmingham to Leeds. I'm not a fan of the current design for this leg, and I think that this section should be sent back to the drawing board. It can be added later if necessary.
Actually I would have to say I disagree, I think HS2 is well thought out.
It is not starting till 2018 as it is designed to start after crossrail has finished, too late for me but economics wise, this makes sense.
There is no point building legs of HS2 piecemeal, this is one of the reasons construction in the UK is typically expensive, we dont plan long term, we build piecemeal additions and this costs more to stop and start work. Building the whole HS2 over 10 years makes sense.
The Birmingham to leeds leg I think works fine, it can be used as a cross country route as well. I understand why they went to meadowhall instead of Sheffield centre.
If you read the documentation on the DoT website it explains the rationale behind all the decisions.
I would be interested on what incremental upgrades you think would work
I've read the information on the rationale behind Leeds New Lane and Sheffield Meadowhall. I understand the reasons behind them. I just don't agree. I would be happy to list my reasons, but they would be better suited to the HS2 thread (in fact I probably will, but it may be later tonight or tomorrow). Suffice to say that I would prefer HS2 to be as integrated with existing transport hubs as possible, and I don't think the current scheme does this.
(The above quotes are taken from the HS3 thread, but the arguments are better suited to this one.)
As I said on the HS3 thread, I would prefer that HS2 is as integrated with existing public transport as possible, and I don't believe the current stations at Meadowhall and Leeds New Lane do this. (I believe the same about Toton, but have less local knowledge about this area, so will save my comments.)
Leeds New Lane is not integrated with either bus or onward train transport. The travelators to me seem like a "fudged" solution, and would be one of the easiest things to drop in the desire to save money. I wouldn't count on the travelators being built. You would then be left without proper connection between trains.
The station as planned is not in the centre of Leeds, and would require a lot of land purchase. As I understand it, the UK HQ of ASDA is on part of this site, and I don't imagine them giving it up without a lot of compensation. It also straddles one of the main arterial routes into and out of Leeds (from the M621 and Beeston). Construction of the station in this location would cause a
huge amount of disruption, and the compo for business/residents affected in the short term would be a huge part of the cost.
In my opinion, the Leeds terminus should be at the existing station, using the land to the north of platform 1 currently used as car park. I've included a quick plan and section below. I would also note that this station could cantilever over the River Aire to an extent (say 3 or 4 metres): this would be more suitable for platform/office space than railway loading. The HS2 portion of the station would be at "High Level", as would some of the new HS2 concourse. This would mean demolition of the existing multi-storey car park, but this could be re-located north of the River Aire. I admit that the aerial photo above is old and there have been changes, but can't remember what they are, so apologies if there's a building in the way of the new MSCP now.
The new concourse would be situated in the pick up / drop off and delivery area behind the MacDonalds and Starbucks (I think, going from memory). These outlets may be lost in the process, but they would probably be replaced on the new concourse.
It has been mentioned that there may already be plans to build a number of extra platforms at ground level in this location, presumably to serve the Harrogate lines. A high level station may limit the number of platforms that could easily be accommodated without light becoming a problem, but it wouldn't preclude this.
Plan view of suggested station site
Section through suggested station showing two possible options
For the approach, I would use the land over Whitehall junction, and then utilise the Leeds-Castleford line as far as the M1 in Hunslet. The two sets of tracks would diverge somewhere between Wakefield Road and the M1 (or wherever the existing bridges allow for it). I realise that this would limit capacity somewhat, but it shouldn't be too onerous. You would only need 3 HS2 services per hour (per direction), and assuming 3 classic services per hour on Leeds-Castleford only takes up 6 paths per hour.
I acknowledge that track improvements, gauge clearance and electrification work would be required on the section of Leeds-Castleford line used for HS2, but the cost/disruption of this would be at least an order of magnitude less than the cost of a station at New Lane. This could also be staged to minimise such disruption. I would note that if some bridge decks need to be replaced to allow gauge clearance / electrification, it may prove more cost-efficient to increase the span of the bridge and allow four tracks instead of two. This would reduce the mileage of track shared by HS2 and classic trains. I would also note that, as there are no stations on this shared stretch of track, there shouldn't be as much of a problem allowing HS2 captive sets to use it, rather than restricting to classic compatible sets. I may be wrong on this, though.
The speed from Hunslet to Leeds Station would be slower than ideal, but I wouldn't expect the time penalty to be too large. I would argue that the reduction in cost of the station and approach using my suggestions above would outweigh the time penalties from using this line. The fact that it's close to a terminating station means I would expect the speed in this area to be relatively low anyway.
The ideas above are obviously not fully developed, and would require a lot of development.
I do have opinions on Sheffield as well, but I'll leave them for a later post.
