Should HS2 carry adjacent cycle track?

On the programme more or less they confirmed that every person in the uk has paid 1500 pound for this rail fiasco.

I'd rather have kept the Bree Louise for all that time

I was in the Bree on their last day. Feels like a very long time ago now.

Seems like the only HS2 thread.

Just beyond (The Glory that is) Ruislip,
connecting Harefield to Ickenham,
anyone who has cycled the switchbacks of Harvil Road will remember
the odd turns to access the road bridge that is normal to the Chiltern Line.

HS2/SCS has built a new road bridge:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=AdtLbmLQI2uRgh6u&v=nFgGMUa9P4I&feature=youtu.be

A good read from the bbc. I was initially very much pro hs2, but the execution has been a disaster.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98486dzxnzo

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/oct/19/best-in-class-seats-and-no-bog-standard-loos-first-look-at-hs2-train-interiors

'4 bike spaces'; not clear if per carriage or per train.

A dedicated section of the train will have bookable space for four bikes

I think that's pretty clear, just 4 per train

Looks entirely depressing. I don't get how they could come up with something so drab for such a supposedly exciting project.

The toilets look like they're stolen straight from the cheapest youth hostels Europe has to offer.

Never mind an adjacent cycle track, it would be good if it had trains at the moment.

I don't know how much experience you've had of Continental trains, as I assume your bands would generally have travelled by van, but it just looks like a bog-standard (pun intended) modern-ish Continental high-speed train, which, erm, is what it actually is.

Are they finally doing away with the Victorian loading gauge with HS2? I can't tell from that picture.

Never mind an adjacent cycle track, it would be good if it had trains at the moment.

You really don't want trains on an adjacent cycle track. They should stay on the rails. Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

The toilets look like they're stolen straight from the cheapest youth hostels Europe has to offer.

I'm looking forward to them being covered in graffiti with a constantly wet floor.

Are they finally doing away with the Victorian loading gauge with HS2? I can't tell from that picture

No. If it's any bigger, it won't be possible to move it around the network for maintenance or other.

Thanks, I didn't realise the maintenance angle, as naïvely I assumed they would just build a facility next to the new track. Guess we're stuck with the Victorian loading gauge.

They'll build a new depot, but stock needs to be moved around all the time - on routes not necessarily related to the service route(s).

And to be fair, deviating from the Victorian loading gauge would necessitate a huge amount of Civil Engineering work to increase the size of all the tunnels and bridges. It's kind of locked in now.

Thanks, I didn't know stock needs to move for other purposes, too.

The problem with the Victorian loading gauge has interested me for a long time. I first heard about it nearly thirty years ago and ever since then I've been thinking: If they'd only started back then/at some point, they'd be so far along by now ...

As far as I remember, the number of really problematic bridges is small, but they're mostly in town centres, where any rebuilding would be an immensely difficult nightmare.

And don't forget that most platforms would need to be remodelled...

I could talk for hours on this. :-)

If we move from the current load gauge, what do we move to? Do we go for double decker trains, or do we just try to pinch a bit of extra room to squeeze in 20 more people per carriage.

And then there has to be the hunger for it. Job for life, for me, if we decide something drastic/huge! XD

I could talk for hours on this. :-)

Well, what are you waiting for? :)

If we move from the current load gauge, what do we move to? Do we go for double decker trains, or do we just try to pinch a bit of extra room to squeeze in 20 more people per carriage.

I'd say compatibility with the Continent (which has its own compatibility issues to sort out, not only in terms of loading gauges but also voltage).

I know it all gets into can-of-worms territory.

I'm agnostic on double-deckers. I personally don't like the new German ones I know, mainly because I find the layout cramped and uncomfortable (although older ones were better). They're probably the only thing from East Germany that has been embraced on a large scale.

I think the theory with HS2 using classic gauge is that having a very high frequency of normal trains is better than having a smaller number of bigger trains on a bigger track. The issue being that double decker trains take longer to load and unload at stations, so you don't really see a benefit in capacity on long distance routes.

I'm at work... ironically.

I was on a double-decker RE to Friedrichshafen, in September, and I didn't find it particularly comfortable (cramped, I would agree) but they're fine for shorter journeys.

Re voltage, I think new trains can be configured to operate at different ratings.

In terms of track gauge, most of Europe uses Standard which is 1435mm (4ft). Russia/former Soviet states uses 5ft (~1520mm), Ireland 1600mm and Iberia a whopping 1668mm.

HS2 services will run to Manchester (and similar oop north places) from day one via the connection near Lichfield and the existing network, so they need to fit the existing infrastructure.

Trains built to a larger size would be stuck shuttling between London and Birmingham.

(The "HS2 will run only from London to Birmingham" thing is weirdly common in news articles, despite having never been true)

I think HS2 has three connotations:

The stock
The new track*
The service

*the only bit that will run only run from London to Birmingham. And even that is a huge oversimplification.

I was on a double-decker RE to Friedrichshafen, in September, and I didn't find it particularly comfortable (cramped, I would agree) but they're fine for shorter journeys.

Shorter journeys, yes, but they're also increasingly being used for ICs, not only for Regionalbahnen or Regionalexpresse. There's also the issue with the €9/49/whatever next ticket that many more people are now taking long trips by non-IC or ICE trains, so there are definitely more longer journeys being made on them in this way, and not just in last year's cheap holiday frenzy mode.

Re voltage, I think new trains can be configured to operate at different ratings.

Yes, the ICE between Frankfurt and Bruxelles (Midi) does that. It changes voltage somewhere around Aachen. Once recently that facility was broken and because they've taken away all the slower trains between Aachen and Bruxelles it all became quite difficult.

We had the cheap holiday tickets, which was a nice bonus, but I suppose it's also a way for less well-off families to get places (in this case a popular Southern holiday destination).

Yes, overall it's a good thing (although it's been implemented very badly because of the appallingly ignorant incumbent transport minister). It's also going to keep increasing in price. Anything that emphasises slower travel and rebuilding of the decimated network is good.