Upvoted. The backlash against HS2 is really annoying, yes it is expensive and some people think it won't benefit the country much - but you covered the reasons why we should be continuing with this project.
Asides from London, plenty of cities and big towns suffer from poor public transport. Getting from one side of town to another without a car should not be a struggle. Right now, I think this should be prioritised above city to city public transport links.
The problem in south west cheshire is many places not only aren't on a rail line, they aren't dense enough to keep a bus service running, even with subsidies
I agree, but HS2 will provide a huge benefit local and regional rail services rather than what most people assume: Faster travel in and out of London.
Frankly we need a lot more investment into light rail (trams etc.) and buses as well as HS2 and NPR.
Midlands Connect say HS2 will improve services to 73 stations, 53 of which aren't connected to HS2 [1]
It also introduces capacity gains for commuter lines into Euston (can't find the link for that)
I'd encourage everyone to read Rail Magazine's take on why we should build H2S [2]
1. https://www.midlandsconnect.uk/publications/hs2-released-cap...
2. https://www.railmagazine.com/research-hub/comment/comment-sp...
Furthermore, I would guess that the post coronavirus emphasis on remote work would make it less important, only time will tell.
At least https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16485263 talks about capacity a fair bit?
> Furthermore, I would guess that the post coronavirus emphasis on remote work would make it less important, only time will tell.
It's worthwhile remembering that number of people heading into cities has been rising year-over-year for a long time. Even if we see a 25% decrease in travel, any freed up rail capacity would likely just be taken up by people moving from road to rail. And with a larger decrease, while rail might drop away from being at capacity for a few years it's highly likely to increase again in future.
HS2 is almost all about easing local commuter routes.
HS2's PR has been, frankly, awful. Hell, its name has been its biggest failure.
If you read any of the published reports into HS2 then you'll see that capacity is the reason for the project.
If the line is coming past you then you have to put up with the noise from it and the building and land use change issues, but you don't get to actually use it as there won't be any stations for you. It's not possible to add stations mid-line as that would slow down the "high speed" aspect.
You can see this in the survey results where regions like the midlands have higher levels of opposition and those at the end of the lines:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/transport/survey-results/daily/2...
>If the line is coming past you then you have to put up with the noise from it and the building and land use change issues, but you don't get to actually use it as there won't be any stations for you. It's not possible to add stations mid-line as that would slow down the "high speed" aspect.
Except that's actually nonsense.
Most of the benefit comes from moving the intercity trains off of the WCML meaning more local and regional trains can be run.
While those in Milton Keynes, Northmapton, Hemel Hempstead etc will love the extra services and space to London, and the increased services and reliability on the Rugby->Wolverhampton and Bimingham-Nottingham corridors will be great, those somewhere like Wendover won't see any benefit.