I fully expect to have my head bitten off on this, as I am anything but a rail expert.
Wouldn't it be simpler and cleverer to extend only one line north of Birmingham, making it curve just east of Manchester city centre, then head north-east to curve just west of Leeds city centre?
With the 100 miles of track saved you could then extend all the way to Newcastle. Obviously the longer the HS2 is the more it tends to make sense, from many points of view. Once you get to Newcastle a future govt could then maybe find a bit more money to get to Edinburgh/Glasgow (Independent Scotland permitting). This could then completely undercut so much domestic air travel.
This way you would also then have a magnificent high-speed route between Leeds and Manchester, where the trains are currently so diabolical, probably taking about 15 minutes to get from one city centre to the other.
Wouldn't it be simpler and cleverer to extend only one line north of Birmingham, making it curve just east of Manchester city centre, then head north-east to curve just west of Leeds city centre?
With the 100 miles of track saved you could then extend all the way to Newcastle. Obviously the longer the HS2 is the more it tends to make sense, from many points of view. Once you get to Newcastle a future govt could then maybe find a bit more money to get to Edinburgh/Glasgow (Independent Scotland permitting). This could then completely undercut so much domestic air travel.
This way you would also then have a magnificent high-speed route between Leeds and Manchester, where the trains are currently so diabolical, probably taking about 15 minutes to get from one city centre to the other.