HS2 - Birmingham to Manchester scrapped.

[yeseye]

And it would free up the existing lines for more freight trains potentially taking more lorries off the road

They’re looking for 60,000 apparently!

 

[Blue Llama]

Daft concept to start with. HS2 would shave about 15 minutes off the London to Manchester time. It only takes 2 hours now, what's the problem with that?

 

[toffee balls]

I'm hoping you mean the op's pal?

HS2 will not , cannot , be shelved.

 

[ysmsa]

Where have you heard this ?

Twitter, where else!

 

[hammocity]

The transpennine route badly needs sorting out, a 70 miles round trip from Tameside to Sheffield is now average around 2 and a half hours, should be 90 minutes, has cost and continues to cost businesses untold misery and expense.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

The transpennine route badly needs sorting out, a 70 miles round trip from Tameside to Sheffield is now average around 2 and a half hours, should be 90 minutes, has cost and continues to cost businesses untold misery and expense.

Manchester to Leeds and Sheffield should be under 45 minutes and Leeds to Sheffield should be similar. It's a joke. Leeds to York should be 15/20 minutes too.

 

[dickie davies]

And it would free up the existing lines for more freight trains potentially taking more lorries off the road

That my friend is a huge misconception
If we lived in a ginormous country, then yes
But we are on a relatively small island where loading freight onto a train doesn't make any commercial sense
As an example, a manufacturer in Kent produces a container of goods destined for Manchester
At the moment it's collected and driven round the m25/40/6 and 56 to its destination which would take 6 hours and cost around £600
If it was on a train, it needs to be collected, taken to a rail hub, unloaded then loaded onto a train and when it reaches Manchester, taken off again, then delivered
The cost will have at least trebled as well as the time

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Re-use the canal network…

 

[maccieblue]

Possibly between London and Manchester it might not be cost effective
But there is not enough capacity to cope with the existing freight trains on the west coast and East Coast main lines. Last year I stayed in a hotel in York next to the railway line and all night every 30 mins a freight train went past

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

Possibly between London and Manchester it might not be cost effective
But there is not enough capacity to cope with the existing freight trains on the west coast and East Coast main lines. Last year I stayed in a hotel in York next to the railway line and all night every 30 mins a freight train went past

freight should be moved at night, same with the post airplanes.