Thanks for the replies, I found it very interesting in how just the presence of a station might affect capacity.
My drivers for this would be;
a) political, neutralising opposition by offering the local region something of benefit. It doesnt cost enough for that to be an issue, but politically may be vital this area could be critical to the Tories hopes of a majority in 2015 and rightly or wrongly it may be a mistake to ride roughshod over the locals, because I am ever more surprised at the level and spread of hostility.
b) offer a connection to HS2 services heading north of Birmingham, drawing on passengers from across the region (i.e all along the Aylesbury to London line, Chiltern Mainline and the E-W Oxford-MK lines) because as it stands, timings and routes for that are and will be rubbish. Potentially even offering better services to the South (of Oxford) and East (of MK) to long distance passengers (again, from north of Birmingham) without the cost, time and clutter of going via London, which as someone who has to use that as a hub frequently, is a miserable experience where you have to change 15,000 times just to end up a sensible car journey from where you started.
I cant see an interchange station offering any benefit for London/Birmingham destinations as these are already well served for the region, and indeed, the area could expect more semi fasts offering better internal regional connectivity as there will be no end to end expresses, since I assume these will be unable to compete with HS2 at all (in that Chiltern Mainline can compete with the WCML).
With stopping services on HS1 coexisting adequately, then how would that be impossible for HS2 ? Indeed, the Eurostar from Gar Du Nord ahead of mine today stopped at Ebbsfleet, and that is a long range, international service with a stop, not even mentioning the "stopping at every hamlet" Javelin services.
Personally, Id build a station and as suggested by someone, not stop much there, but that can come later. Although I agree, road provision to the area isnt great (yet good enough to support a TMD with no doubt a not insignificant demand for road access ?)
Im not sure where the last posters rather high handed stopping at every village comes from, I cant see that anywhere in this thread. If there is a reason not to do something, state it, dont try and conflate the issue to then attack it perhaps ? Equally, given the history of this country, the fact that something is, or isnt happening already bears absolutely no relevance to whether it is, or isnt, a good idea, and is simply an outcome of a very chaotic mixing bowl of 1000s of peoples ideas, interests, constraints, prejudices and compromises. I find it hard to think of any Government activity that in the 21st century you would still find someone prepared to just sit back and trust what they say let alone in the field of railways !
cheers anyway, I'm still minded to think this is a good idea, but not at the cost of reducing overall capacity - I assumed it could be done almost as a "freebie"
My drivers for this would be;
a) political, neutralising opposition by offering the local region something of benefit. It doesnt cost enough for that to be an issue, but politically may be vital this area could be critical to the Tories hopes of a majority in 2015 and rightly or wrongly it may be a mistake to ride roughshod over the locals, because I am ever more surprised at the level and spread of hostility.
b) offer a connection to HS2 services heading north of Birmingham, drawing on passengers from across the region (i.e all along the Aylesbury to London line, Chiltern Mainline and the E-W Oxford-MK lines) because as it stands, timings and routes for that are and will be rubbish. Potentially even offering better services to the South (of Oxford) and East (of MK) to long distance passengers (again, from north of Birmingham) without the cost, time and clutter of going via London, which as someone who has to use that as a hub frequently, is a miserable experience where you have to change 15,000 times just to end up a sensible car journey from where you started.
I cant see an interchange station offering any benefit for London/Birmingham destinations as these are already well served for the region, and indeed, the area could expect more semi fasts offering better internal regional connectivity as there will be no end to end expresses, since I assume these will be unable to compete with HS2 at all (in that Chiltern Mainline can compete with the WCML).
With stopping services on HS1 coexisting adequately, then how would that be impossible for HS2 ? Indeed, the Eurostar from Gar Du Nord ahead of mine today stopped at Ebbsfleet, and that is a long range, international service with a stop, not even mentioning the "stopping at every hamlet" Javelin services.
Personally, Id build a station and as suggested by someone, not stop much there, but that can come later. Although I agree, road provision to the area isnt great (yet good enough to support a TMD with no doubt a not insignificant demand for road access ?)
Im not sure where the last posters rather high handed stopping at every village comes from, I cant see that anywhere in this thread. If there is a reason not to do something, state it, dont try and conflate the issue to then attack it perhaps ? Equally, given the history of this country, the fact that something is, or isnt happening already bears absolutely no relevance to whether it is, or isnt, a good idea, and is simply an outcome of a very chaotic mixing bowl of 1000s of peoples ideas, interests, constraints, prejudices and compromises. I find it hard to think of any Government activity that in the 21st century you would still find someone prepared to just sit back and trust what they say let alone in the field of railways !
cheers anyway, I'm still minded to think this is a good idea, but not at the cost of reducing overall capacity - I assumed it could be done almost as a "freebie"
