How does #HS2 deliver those things? How, for example, will it improve local rail services?
Some people seem to think HS2 is about “knocking 35 minutes off London to Birmingham”. But there's much more to it than that... 2/n
Some people seem to think HS2 is about “knocking 35 minutes off London to Birmingham”. But there's much more to it than that... 2/n
Yes, #HS2 will dramatically reduce journey times: the project will cut London-Manchester from two hours to one; it takes around an hour off the journey to Scotland; and Birmingham-Nottingham, which currently takes over an hour, falls to an almost ridiculous 20 minutes. But... 3/n
Speed is not the main point of #HS2. The objective is capacity, and not just capacity for fast intercity services, either, but for local, regional and commuter services too. Allow us to explain how HS2 can deliver a local transport revolution... 4/n
Britain’s antiquated railway network carries a mix of express intercity trains (the kind which #HS2 will take) and stopping local and commuter services (the kind people use to get to work, do some shopping or pop to see family in another town). 5/n
This mix is a very inefficient way to run a railway, for a reason that is quite obvious if you think about it: trains cannot overtake each other on the same set of tracks. They would bang into the back of one another if they tried. Not ideal. 6/n
To get around this, local stopping trains need a large gap behind them in the timetable, so the expresses behind do not catch up. That reduces the number of trains you can have per hour on a line, dramatically reducing its capacity for every type of service—local and express. 7/n
#HS2 will shift those express intercity trains off the older mainlines, freeing them up for stopping local and commuter services. When trains are all travelling at roughly the same speed on a line, you can fit a lot more in, because the gaps needed between them are smaller. 8/n
Let’s represent express trains with a “|” and local trains with a “/”.
Our current railways are run inefficiently, like this:
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/
With #HS2, we’ll have a twin network with doubly boosted capacity, like this:
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
////////////////////
9/n
Our current railways are run inefficiently, like this:
|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/|/
With #HS2, we’ll have a twin network with doubly boosted capacity, like this:
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
////////////////////
9/n
So if, like Greenpeace, you’d like local trains that come so frequently you don't need to check a timetable, *and* passenger rail so easy, accessible and fast that it beats suffering in airports...
And if you also want cities that aren’t built around cars...
Support HS2. 10/n
And if you also want cities that aren’t built around cars...
Support HS2. 10/n
H/t to @joncstone for inspiring elements of this thread with his journalism on #HS2 and transport. 11/11
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