COMMENT HS2 - TfL & more!

Editor-in-Chief Malcolm Ginsberg with some thoughts.

Three important transport questions I have to raise.

The first one is simple.

Why the fuss about removing train station ticket offices in the regions.  At Transport for London (TfL) they have mostly gone since 2015 and the system works.  Surely if it is good for London it ought to be the same for the rest of the country.  It is all part of levelling up.  Most who use the London network seem to be happy with the ticket system and the major stations are covered by TfL staff pleased to help. The first railway station booking office opened in 1827.  We have moved on!  

Euston:  TfL, at a cost of £700 million, has effectively turned the Bank/Monument Station into one complex.  Why not complete the Euston upgrade regardless of HS2, adding Euston Square, and with it the Circle and Metropolitan Lines to the main line station.  It is just crazy to step out and compete with the traffic, especially passengers to and from Avanti West Coast, Caledonian Sleeper, London North Western Railway (LNER), London Overground and West Midlands Trains.  An alternative is to link Warren Street to Euston Square.

HS2 continues to be a topic of heated conversation.

Let’s face it the scheme is a total political mess, very profitable for some, but with an unknown result, whilst across rural Buckinghamshire and elsewhere work continues unabated, except as noted around Euston, a complete mess!

The country needs fast rail links, what we used to call “Intercity”.  

Ten years ago Business Travel News offered a platform to a transport guru who has since passed on.  Having masterminded the Heathrow Express Vernon Murphy knew what he was talking about.  His views are true today as they were in 2013.

We have an obsession with 200mph trains, which will save little time but add millions to the cost.

Slow them down and build the track and the rolling stock to a lower specification.

We might get the job done quicker. And cheaper!

www.btnews.co.uk/article/6683

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