Comments on: Government launches study into connecting HS2 services to Leeds

By: Duncan Froggatt

Duncan Froggatt — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 09:47:52 +0000

Alas the DfT are asking the wrong question. It should not be how to connect HS2 to Leeds but how to provide fast, frequent, reliable and sustainable services between all the major regional centres in the north and connect to the rest of the country. Completion of the electrification of the Midland Mainline to Sheffield and beyond would go a long way to the latter. Targeted local route improvements or replacements the former.

By: Philip Alexander

Philip Alexander — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 22:49:20 +0000

In reply to Alistair Lenczner. And I'll take a conventional 225kph train from Kings Cross (not Old Oak Common....) and get to Leeds before you!

By: Alistair Lenczner

Alistair Lenczner — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 13:51:14 +0000

Want to get to Leeds via HS2 from London or Birmingham? Simple: take HS2 to Manchester and continue on Leeds (and York, Newcastle etc.) via a new Trans-Pennine High Speed Line used both by Norther Powerhouse Rail and HS2 trains. Manchester HS2 station should obviously be a through station. This is the most cost-effective solution and means that a single trains can serve both Manchester and Leeds, perhaps with 4tph.

By: Philip Alexander

Philip Alexander — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 06:59:00 +0000

Errr, is this a joke? First there was an eastern leg to Leeds which I assume must have had a business case to support it (don’t laugh). Then the government cancelled it (quite rightly) because the whole premise of HS2 is flawed. Now they are going to fund (no doubt at huge expense) a study to see how to link HS2 to Leeds. Excuse me for being a bit thick, but if there was a plan to link it to Leeds in the first place, why does government need another expensive study to tell it what it already ought to know? That is, the Benefit/Cost ratio (BCR) is drastically negative indicating the whole project should never be built. I suppose this government thinks that we’re all so stupid that by lobbing another £50 million for a study it makes it look like they are re-considering (presumably to try to hold up the Northern vote at the next GE). Whereas it must be obvious to anybody with a pocket calculator to re-run the numbers from the first business case, this time with proper construction cost estimates and realistic passenger numbers, it will be a non-starter. The cynicism of politicians knows no bounds. Just that £50 million on a new study could fund some really needed infrastructure somewhere, but they sprinkle it around as if it grows on trees.