Well yes but the time from London Victoria to Manchester Victoria wouldn't be much of a comparison of journey times between cities.
Why didn't you get the train that took 34 minutes? And I presume you calculated Rocket doing 35 miles at 30mph. Nice try. That wasn't the timetable in 1830.
I'm not sure if this is a serious comment. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 had 20 stops.My train was delayed and of course Stephensons rocket didn't have to deal with the number of stops that the trains have to make today.
Compare the cost of HS2 to how much has been spent on railways in London in the last 20 years and it doesn't look that expensive.The Odsall cord which cost millions is a white elephant. It needed to be accompanied by the capacity increase between Oxford Road and Piccadilly - cancelled by Grayling. And the electrification of the TransPenine route - again cancelled by Grayling. Outside of London -infrastructure planning and expenditure in the rest of the UK are presently a farce.
Compare the cost of HS2 to how much has been spent on railways in London in the last 20 years and it doesn't look that expensive.
There might have been a case for getting extra capacity by building a new freight only line but it would be underused (especially now there are few coal trains) There's not much point separating freight from stopping passenger trains as the average speeds are similar (though putting Freightliners from Trafford Park through Piccadilly in the peak is a daft idea).
It would have helped to have the extra platforms at Piccadilly but you'd still have just the two tracks from Castlefield to Piccadilly so maybe not a massive game changer. The capacity is there - if trains run to time.
Four new HS2 platforms at Piccadilly would obviously release platforms in the main station for local services.
Not electrifying the TP line to Leeds was a much worse decision.
It was always said that the Central Wales Line only survived Beeching because it went through seven marginal constituencies. HS2 now goes through lots more marginal constituencies in the north and midlands...Tory MPs including Grayling wanted HS2 cancelling so that Cross Rail 2 and 3 could be funded Crossrail 2 terminates in Epsom - Graylings constituency. The best infrastructure project for the north is HS3. HS2 is being* used as a vehicle to invest around Euston and the wider Camden area - so it will not get North of Birmingham.
Ministers now preparing the north for huge reductions in train services - accompanying the inevitable collapse of Northern Rail. Most of this chaos results from the decision not to deliver the expansion of the Castlefield corridor. Grayling asked Network Rail to look at alternatives because of the cost. In 2015 NR told him there were no alternatives. So Grayling just left the proposal sat on his desk and 5 years later we have chaos. Chaos that will last for many years.
Ministers now preparing the north for huge reductions in train services - accompanying the inevitable collapse of Northern Rail. Most of this chaos results from the decision not to deliver the expansion of the Castlefield corridor. Grayling asked Network Rail to look at alternatives because of the cost. In 2015 NR told him there were no alternatives. So Grayling just left the proposal sat on his desk and 5 years later we have chaos. Chaos that will last for many years.
The situation on P13/14 at Piccadilly is ridiculous and increasingly unsafe, with more than half the station's passengers trying to use just 2 platforms.
I saw a figure that it could cost over £700 million to sort out the corridor from Piccadilly through to the Castlefield and Ordsall junctions.
Grayling was undoubtedly an idiot but we are actually paying the price for 30+ years of underinvestment and poor decisions, including taking out more than half of the platforms at Victoria to make way for a concert venue.