Question to British users: would you prefer to see old railway lines reopened, or HS2?

[Tooting Carmen]

I am increasingly convinced that HS2 is a pointless and expensive vanity project. We are a fairly small and very densely populated island - we do not need to spend billions of pounds and destroy countryside just to cut journey times from London to Leeds by one hour. Instead, I believe that many of the railway lines shut down during the 1960's in particular should be re-opened, providing new connections and opportunities to people living in relatively isolated and rural parts of the country, as well as reducing connection times through the major hubs. (For example, it should be once again possible to travel directly from Swansea and Neath to Aberdare directly, rather than having to change at Cardiff Central and go back up again, to say nothing about travelling from Swansea to Aberystwyth!) Nevertheless, I am interested in what other users think about this.

[Graham]

The beeching cuts was terrible foresight and planning.

The Scottish Borders line (£294m) was re-opened after 46 years in 2015 and it has been a massive success since. The railway line has had four million journeys by 2018 connecting Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank.

There are plans to increase the line connecting Edinburgh to Carlisle.

Will HS2 be cheaper than taking the plane?

I suspect if the answer will be no then what is the point?

[Tooting Carmen]

The beeching cuts was terrible foresight and planning.

The Scottish Borders line (£294m) was re-opened after 46 years in 2015 and it has been a massive success since. The railway line has had four million journeys by 2018 connecting Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank.

There are plans to increase the line connecting Edinburgh to Carlisle.

Will HS2 be cheaper than taking the plane?

I suspect if the answer will be no then what is the point?

It would be more ecological than the plane, but I doubt cheaper.

[Graham]

It would be more ecological than the plane, but I doubt cheaper.

Yeah true. Over time I'd imagine planes will become more ecological.

I wouldn't trust the tories over rail contracts too with HS2. It'd be in private hands to one sole winner after paying the billions for the line.

btw it costs me about £30 to go from Bristol to Edinburgh in a plane if booked early.

[Tooting Carmen]

Yeah true. Over time I'd imagine planes will become more ecological.

I wouldn't trust the tories over rail contracts too with HS2. It'd be in private hands to one sole winner after paying the billions for the line.

btw it costs me about £30 to go from Bristol to Edinburgh in a plane if booked early.

Yes, budget airlines can be very cheap, although all the extra charges and air passenger duty often make the advertised fares very deceptive. And I agree that HS2 will be just another way a private company could fleece taxpayers.

[Tooting Carmen]

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