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I think they have not communicated the objectives of HS2 very well, focusing on getting from London to Birmingham 3 minutes quicker (or whatever) isn't going to enthuse people, but decent local services might.
I completely agree - it seems madness how little the other benefits are talked about. Midlands rail say they’re looking to take 2.5m lorries worth of cargo each year. Dunno what janky maths that is based on but it seems like a good retort to the question ‘why are you spending billions to cut 10min off the journey from Birmingham to London’. I’m reminded of battersea power station redevelopment saying their use of barges was equivalent to about 100 lorries each day.
Surely they could estimate how many more local services could be running in each area and plaster that all over the place.
Yes. I used to be opposed to HS2 on the grounds that it was about sucking economic benefits to London. Then I read an article by a guy who explained how rail lines worked, and that HS2 would enable loads and loads of local services up and down the country by taking the fast trains off the existing lines, then slow local passenger and freight trains could chug along at their own speed with no gaps in service.
I think they have not communicated the objectives of HS2 very well, focusing on getting from London to Birmingham 3 minutes quicker (or whatever) isn't going to enthuse people, but decent local services might.