Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

Also important are sensible main line upgrades

There aren't any sensible upgrades of the north south railways (WCML, ECML and MML) without bulldozing a lot of homes and businesses. To free up capacity on those routes you need to move the high speed paths somewhere else.

Probably for another thread though.

As I've said before, HS2 is largely on the same template as high-speed trains in Europe, whose remit is basically to facilitate business travel. Obviously, it also facilitates travel between larger centres for other people wealthy enough to afford the higher fares, while typically having a negative impact on the rest of the rail network, when it is far, far more important, and far cheaper, to reinstate lost railway lines and create other useful local-ish rail links. Also important are sensible main line upgrades, of course, but HS2 isn't a strategic priority by any stretch of the imagination.

Interestingly I've read a number of articles from people who seem to know what they're talking about which contradict every single point you make there, let me see if I can find them.

Most especially the "cheaper to reinstate lost railway lines" IIRC.

• High speed services on the continent have exactly the same mix of business and leisure travel, expensive and cheap fares, etc as UK Intercity services.
  
• The lost railway lines either went nowhere and were closed for good reason, have been built over in key sections, or do nothing to add capacity in congested urban areas. Usually, all three.
  
• Expanding existing mainlines is ludicrously expensive and disruptive for limited gain.
  
• Cancelling HS2 doesn't do anything to make money appear for local transport schemes.
  

reinstate lost railway lines and create other useful local-ish rail links

+1 getting to Birmingham is no problem on the train it's getting around once you are there.

while typically having a negative impact on the rest of the rail network, when it is far, far more important, and far cheaper, to reinstate lost railway lines and create other useful local-ish rail links.

Adding HS2 mean the regional line won’t be as busy allowing more trains on the existing line.

As I've said before, HS2 is largely on the same template as high-speed trains in Europe, whose remit is basically to facilitate business travel.

This really isn't true. HS2 is quite different to grand rail projets on the continent (which largely compete with/are designed to take business from airlines) in that one of the main reasons for building it is to create capacity for more local services by moving long distance services onto the new line. See:
https://www.globalrailwayreview.com/news/89694/hs2-capacity-britains-existing-rail/
But also:
https://www.railtech.com/infrastructure/2020/07/21/hs2-will-unlock-capacity-of-three-mainlines-in-uk/
https://www.railengineer.co.uk/the-capacity-benefits-of-hs2/
https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2019/10/02/more-evidence-that-hs2-is-more-about-capacity-than-speed/

The UK has a huge capacity problem and it sure ain't a myth. We have a railway network which is - unlike just about all other countries, because we invented it - fundamentally Victorian. Because of this the carriages have to be narrower, stations have shorter platforms (unless they've been extended), infrastructure is very outdated. We also spent years not spending any money on maintaining it. And so on. And on top of this there has been huge passenger growth in recent years without any significant capacity growth.

Sure, you could fix this by completely revamping the current network - extending station platforms, replacing bridges and tunnels, lengthening trains, replacing signalling and other infrastructure. But it would take years and years and years of disruption to rail users, cost a fortune and - given the UK's track record for upgrade projects - possibly not even work properly at the end of it.

In short: it would be completely unworkable.