High Speed Rail or not?
One of the big arguments in our area just now is whether Britain should build a new high speed rail link (HS2) and whether it should go through the Chilterns. People who live there say no - as they fear disruption, noise and the sight of a railway line through beautiful countryside. But there's another side to it.
My local mainline station is Watford Junction, on the current line to the west midlands and the northwest - often called the West Coast Main Line (WCML). Over the years, our access to the fastest long distance services has diminished. A couple of years ago, Virgin wanted to put in more fast services and they introduced the VHF (Virgin High Frequency) timetable which added those services. The cost? They took away our access to the Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow services and left us with just one Virgin service - an hourly train to Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Why? Because you can't run more fast trains if some stop on the fast line. Now to get to any of the other long distance services we have three options - a slow train to either Euston (in the wrong direction) or Milton Keynes (where they built a bypass line for non-stop trains to overtake those calling there), or a once an hour London Midland (LM) fast service to Milton Keynes. Guess which one most folk use? Yes, the LM fast.
Now what's happening? LM have just said that they want to speed up that once an hour service so that they can squeeze in a second fast service to provide more capacity. How will they do that? Well, part of the answer is that they're going to test run the trains at a higher speed. The other part? Yes, you guessed it - they're planning to take out the Watford stop for exactly the same reason Virgin did. Wonderful.
So the price of more capacity on an already overcrowded line is less service to and from intermediate stations. Journeys will take longer and local trains will be even more crowded.
Now if they were to build HS2, what would happen? Most of, if not all, the fast long distance services would transfer across and the WCML could expand service to the intermediate stations. Guess which station those protesters in the Chilterns use (and would continue to use even after HS2 is built)? You got it - those intermediate stations such as Watford or Hemel Hempstead.
My local mainline station is Watford Junction, on the current line to the west midlands and the northwest - often called the West Coast Main Line (WCML). Over the years, our access to the fastest long distance services has diminished. A couple of years ago, Virgin wanted to put in more fast services and they introduced the VHF (Virgin High Frequency) timetable which added those services. The cost? They took away our access to the Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow services and left us with just one Virgin service - an hourly train to Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Why? Because you can't run more fast trains if some stop on the fast line. Now to get to any of the other long distance services we have three options - a slow train to either Euston (in the wrong direction) or Milton Keynes (where they built a bypass line for non-stop trains to overtake those calling there), or a once an hour London Midland (LM) fast service to Milton Keynes. Guess which one most folk use? Yes, the LM fast.
Now what's happening? LM have just said that they want to speed up that once an hour service so that they can squeeze in a second fast service to provide more capacity. How will they do that? Well, part of the answer is that they're going to test run the trains at a higher speed. The other part? Yes, you guessed it - they're planning to take out the Watford stop for exactly the same reason Virgin did. Wonderful.
So the price of more capacity on an already overcrowded line is less service to and from intermediate stations. Journeys will take longer and local trains will be even more crowded.
Now if they were to build HS2, what would happen? Most of, if not all, the fast long distance services would transfer across and the WCML could expand service to the intermediate stations. Guess which station those protesters in the Chilterns use (and would continue to use even after HS2 is built)? You got it - those intermediate stations such as Watford or Hemel Hempstead.
posted by Simon | 9:01 am
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