notlob.divad
Established Member
- Joined
- 19 Jan 2016
- Messages
- 1,609
The subject of this thread might have been discussed somewhere else, if so I apologize, I did have a look first but couldn't find it.
With the growing concern about Climate Change, High Speed rail could be (should be) the solution to the huge number of intra European short haul flights. High Speed 2 is being sold to the British public as capacity release for the WCML a 68 Manchester <-> London and 88 Leeds <-> London times. However, in Feb 2012 HS2Ltd released an FOI request giving estimated Paris <-> B.ham/Man/Leeds times using HS1 and HS2, of 187/218/218 minutes respectively, and thus it could be inferred 172/203/203 minutes times for the Brussels journies.
(Note: I don't see how Leeds and Manchester have identical times if their times to London are 20 minutes different, but these are the HS2 Ltd times so I shall run with them).
Potential Northern Extensions talk about a hr Glasgow/Edinburgh <-> London time triggering a substantial mode shift from Plane to Train. With the above times, B/ham - Brussels already makes this and - Paris is probably close enough. Therefore my first question: To get the most benefit out of the HS project(s) is there anyway we can knock 15-20 minutes more off of the Manchester and Leeds - Europe times to stimulate the required Modal shift?
Question 2, does this point to the HS1:HS2 link being the most crucial part of the HS project(s) to ensure overall success?
Question 3: Should the Eastern leg of HS2 Phase 2 contain provision for the completion of the inverted A, allowing construction of a route from south of Toton to the 4 remaining classic platforms at the Western side of St Pancras? The extra Euston Capacity could then be used for a Bristol/Cardiff HS route.
Question 4 (and final one): Could the St Pancras International hub station, with services running Leeds - Paris, Manchester - Brussels and Birmingham - Amsterdam with an international transfer lounge at St Pancras ever become a reality or is it just too big an ask to get people to move away from aviation?
With the growing concern about Climate Change, High Speed rail could be (should be) the solution to the huge number of intra European short haul flights. High Speed 2 is being sold to the British public as capacity release for the WCML a 68 Manchester <-> London and 88 Leeds <-> London times. However, in Feb 2012 HS2Ltd released an FOI request giving estimated Paris <-> B.ham/Man/Leeds times using HS1 and HS2, of 187/218/218 minutes respectively, and thus it could be inferred 172/203/203 minutes times for the Brussels journies.
(Note: I don't see how Leeds and Manchester have identical times if their times to London are 20 minutes different, but these are the HS2 Ltd times so I shall run with them).
Potential Northern Extensions talk about a hr Glasgow/Edinburgh <-> London time triggering a substantial mode shift from Plane to Train. With the above times, B/ham - Brussels already makes this and - Paris is probably close enough. Therefore my first question: To get the most benefit out of the HS project(s) is there anyway we can knock 15-20 minutes more off of the Manchester and Leeds - Europe times to stimulate the required Modal shift?
Question 2, does this point to the HS1:HS2 link being the most crucial part of the HS project(s) to ensure overall success?
Question 3: Should the Eastern leg of HS2 Phase 2 contain provision for the completion of the inverted A, allowing construction of a route from south of Toton to the 4 remaining classic platforms at the Western side of St Pancras? The extra Euston Capacity could then be used for a Bristol/Cardiff HS route.
Question 4 (and final one): Could the St Pancras International hub station, with services running Leeds - Paris, Manchester - Brussels and Birmingham - Amsterdam with an international transfer lounge at St Pancras ever become a reality or is it just too big an ask to get people to move away from aviation?