HS2 Rail link petition

[Rebotco]

Actually the main problem is that trains are shit.

They're ridiculously expensive, uncomfortable and they go from the wrong place to the wrong place so you need another form of transport at each end of the journey. There's a reason that cars and motorbikes are so popular.

 

 

And for the cost of it, we could have 2 new Royal Yachts, CaRT funded for the next 100 years and all the hospitals

 

upgraded etc. etc. (Might be a slight exaggeration- but you get my drift!)

 

Brian

[aread2]

Mr pedant, I challenge you! I was referring to the Virgin Euston/Birmingham/(manchester/glasgow) services in a previous post which have massive overcapacity untouched. The LondonMidland trains are the middle third of every second carriage.

Actually the London Midland Desiro has half of every fourth carriage devoted to first class.

[furnessvale]

If we had the same loading gauge as, say, the SNCF, permitting double-decker coaches, overcrowding would not be such a problem.

Had the railways followed the lead of Mr. I.K. Brunel and built their routes to the broad gauge, overcrowding would not be such a problem.

Hindsight is a precious gift.

 

Mr I.K.Brunel's broad gauge referred to the width between the rails NOT the height and width of the vehicle above them......

 

....which is why 9'6" high freight containers are currently being carried on Mr Stephenson's puny standard gauge west coast route, but not towards Bristol, because of the loading gauge.

 

OK, some west coast bridges have been raised a little but it demonstrates that Brunel's railway was no bigger then standard gauge where it mattered, in the loading gauge.

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[Ray]

Actually the London Midland Desiro has half of every fourth carriage devoted to first class.

 

I believe that you will find that the first class on LM Desiros is roughly a third of one of the four carriages. I think it equates to 24 seats (or 10%) in a four car unit with a total unit accommodation of around 240 seats.

 

I understand that HS2 is to be routed into Euston which, I presume, means trains will be routed via Primrose Hill tunnel. With the capacity of the tunnel all but full already - the freights off the North London line more than taking up the three paths each hour of the DC trains out of Euston which don't use those tracks through the tunnel - I fail to understand how the HS trains will get from one side of the tunnel to the other unless some of the existing trains are removed which surely defeats the object of providing additional capacity by way of the HS2 trains.

 

We must also remember that whilst HS2 will only serve a few locations it will potentially remove those location's passengers from existing services freeing up much needed capacity on those services. The cost benefits of doing so no doubt go a long way to justifying the cost of HS2.

 

There is much talk of being unable to afford HS2 at this current time with many implying that all the expense will be encountered now. As I see it the expense will be spread over the 20 year period by which time we would hope the current financial crisis is far behind us.

 

The LM lost numerous class 321 units as a result of the traffic drop during the last recession. It took many years to regain that capacity, long after passenger traffic had outgrown the available accommodation. As I see it HS2 is a step towards ensuring that we have the required rail capacity for the likely traffic when the economy improves.

[David Mack]

I understand that HS2 is to be routed into Euston which, I presume, means trains will be routed via Primrose Hill tunnel. With the capacity of the tunnel all but full already - the freights off the North London line more than taking up the three paths each hour of the DC trains out of Euston which don't use those tracks through the tunnel - I fail to understand how the HS trains will get from one side of the tunnel to the other unless some of the existing trains are removed which surely defeats the object of providing additional capacity by way of the HS2 trains.

 

HS2 will run from Euston, but the station gets completely rebuilt and much expannded to accommodate HS2, WCML and local services. HS2 gets its own tracks that dive into new tunnels a short distance north of the station, so no impact on Primrose Hill tunnel. Plans showing all this are on the Department for Transport website. Note that there's some big files there, so probably not for those on a mobile connection.

 

David

[mayalld]

I understand that HS2 is to be routed into Euston which, I presume, means trains will be routed via Primrose Hill tunnel. With the capacity of the tunnel all but full already - the freights off the North London line more than taking up the three paths each hour of the DC trains out of Euston which don't use those tracks through the tunnel - I fail to understand how the HS trains will get from one side of the tunnel to the other unless some of the existing trains are removed which surely defeats the object of providing additional capacity by way of the HS2 trains.

 

Not VIA the tunnel, but UNDER the tunnel.

 

The plans for Euston will involve the high speed platforms being at the current Underground ticket hall level, with the "ordinary" lines at the present level

[Doorman]

Hot off the press...... a computer generated image of the new Birmingham to London HS2 link Train!

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Edited January 27, 2012 by Doorman

[Athy]

I didn't know that it stopped at Southall.