So once again, I must accept the case for HS2, yet you rip to shreds any alternative suggestion.
If there was a viable alternative then we wouldn't be able to do it to shreds.
Most of the things you listed tries to manage people off the railways, well the problem is that relies on people being willing to use the alternatives.
It is likely things we may have to do to eak out capacity until HS2 opens anyway.
Just on broadband, since 2007 average household broadband speeds have gone up from 4.7mb/s to 48mb/s, with speeds of up to double that if everyone were to opt for the fastest speed. Firstly how much faster does it need to go before people reduce their travel demand?
The Virgin services I take between Crewe and Euston are not full; I travel out in the morning around 8am and return around 5pm. I'm unlucky if I don't have a pair of seats to myself.
We do not need HS2. Move all Pendolinos to 11 carriages and further reduce first class by another carriage.
Unless we shift more government to the Northwest, there is no need for additional capacity.
That works now for those services, what about in 5 years time, 10 years time, 15 years time? What about the train before or after those?
I could get a train into Waterloo leaving at the same time as you and returning to the other station at 5pm and probably see similar results of I traveled from far enough out of London, that doesn't mean that there's not a need for more capacity.
The model for HS2 is based on phase one having a capacity uplift of 52%, it's already more than that for those places which will directly benefit from HS2.