But there is plenty of capacity from London to Birmingham in the mornings, so these businesses could move now, as are HSBC, they are moving now and won't benefit from hs2 for 10 years, so it's just bigging up hs2.
Commuters don't just come into London from Birmingham.
Commuters don't just come into Birmingham from London.
Peak rail services across all UK cities are pretty full.
Modal shift point I made earlier.
Yes, it does make sense. I didn't say we shouldn't build more capacity anywhere, I am saying that government policy and economic can be used to distribute government departments and encourage businesses out of London to the North where capacity is gained more cheaply. As for all towns / cities being at capacity at peak times, in the North this [is] often because the capacity is a two coach pacer rather than one big enough and[ ]fit for purpose.
Some businesses moving from London to other places is really not the passenger-reducing silver bullet you seem to think it is.
There's also the problem that building new lines in any city is very, very expensive. You either demolish loads of houses, or build it in tunnels. As for lengthening rolling stock: you'd have to re-build a lot of stations, and expand them. This should happen, but it's not addressing the same stuff as HS2 does.
Finally, you're assuming that there is literally no population growth on the Southern WCML, or the Coventry-Birmingham corridor.
London is the capital city of the UK. People are still going to want to come to London. Two-way flows are good, investment in 'the North' is good, but it doesn't negate investing in London and the South East too. Interconnectedness is going to become more important as modernisation continues.
Plus, the modal shift statement I've made about 3 times now.