HS2. Newcastle to London in 2 hours 18 minutes !
I seem to remember the Tyne Tees Pullman on the 27/09/1987 using diesel power did 2 hours 19 minutes.
50 years of progress and billions of pounds of tax payers money for 1 minute !!!
Because, as I keep reminding myself, we are British. We are small c conservative, we are reactionary, we are against modernity, we are Luddites. Our parents were brought up by Victorian models passed on as late as 1945 and they taught us in the same means.
We are a nation which refused to accept its place amongst the modern age. While we consider, as has been questioned this very day in Parliament, whether a station should be built in Stoke or Derby, the rest of Europe carry on advancing infrastructure at great means, and China builds entire cities within six months.
I am reminded by slow coach schemes like this why I could never be nationalistic or "proud" of being British. We are such a backward looking, old fashioned, out-dated, outmoded isolationist island, and apparently so proud of being so, that I can't possibly feel particularly good about the faith attached to the national flag or its other symbols and institutions.
Your concern about the time "saving" is another fine and reasonable example of the manner in which this country merrily carries on in the past whilst other country carries on at 100x speed.
I support HS2 as an absolutely vital piece of infrastructure spending. But the fact that it won't be built until 2030 should be a national joke. It should be completed NOW having been started ten or so years previously.