Invincibles
Member
An obvious candidate for diversion would be the voyager operated services which could presumably be moved to Paddington?
Similarly I would look at the possibility of extending some FGW Oxford terminators to Manchester in conjunction with cross country. (stock would be a mixture of FGW HSTs and voyagers)
Project Rio might be a possibility as well.
The result should be 6/7 tph for the WCML from Euston which would presumably not be a problem.
Add in some short termination of London Midland services / Extension of the MK trains through Olympia to go further north and there will be enough reduction to make that work.
Finally stop the DC services short and that will remove them from the mix.
All of that should make things workable. OK there is no consistency but most passengers would use Euston. Advance tickets would mostly be available on the diverted trains and demand should then work.
Of course this assumes that HS2 does start construction at a time when demand on the WCML is still at managable levels.
Similarly I would look at the possibility of extending some FGW Oxford terminators to Manchester in conjunction with cross country. (stock would be a mixture of FGW HSTs and voyagers)
Project Rio might be a possibility as well.
The result should be 6/7 tph for the WCML from Euston which would presumably not be a problem.
Add in some short termination of London Midland services / Extension of the MK trains through Olympia to go further north and there will be enough reduction to make that work.
Finally stop the DC services short and that will remove them from the mix.
All of that should make things workable. OK there is no consistency but most passengers would use Euston. Advance tickets would mostly be available on the diverted trains and demand should then work.
Of course this assumes that HS2 does start construction at a time when demand on the WCML is still at managable levels.