There’s been a lot of talk recently about how HS2 will lead to journey times becoming quicker for many places nowhere the route. Journeys from the South Coast to Manchester and the North East often spring to mind, but what about the less obvious routes that nobody even considers will be quicker via HS2 because the destination is too far from it?
For example, to get from Birmingham to Cambridge, the direct train takes around 2 hours, 45 minutes. Once HS2 opens, you can shave off the 45 minutes and arrive in London before the direct service has even reached Leicester. From Euston, it’s then only another 90 minutes to get to Cambridge via Thameslink or Great Northern, taking 2 hours 15 minutes in total and saving 30 minutes compared with taking the direct Brum-Cambridge train.
Ideally I am looking for journeys where one of the start/end points is nowhere near the physical HS2 route, and that station is not currently served by trains that will eventually be using HS2.
For example, to get from Birmingham to Cambridge, the direct train takes around 2 hours, 45 minutes. Once HS2 opens, you can shave off the 45 minutes and arrive in London before the direct service has even reached Leicester. From Euston, it’s then only another 90 minutes to get to Cambridge via Thameslink or Great Northern, taking 2 hours 15 minutes in total and saving 30 minutes compared with taking the direct Brum-Cambridge train.
Ideally I am looking for journeys where one of the start/end points is nowhere near the physical HS2 route, and that station is not currently served by trains that will eventually be using HS2.
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