A thought on HS2
Sep. 11th, 2013 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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gonzo21
The huge fuss about HS2 ignores something important. Realistically, what's needed isn't a high-speed railway but a high-capacity railway. Lots of normal trains with enough room for everyone to sit down would be much more useful than a small number of really fast ones, and could be packed closer together because they would be able to stop a lot faster. I really can't think of any politician who has mentioned this.
gonzo21The huge fuss about HS2 ignores something important. Realistically, what's needed isn't a high-speed railway but a high-capacity railway. Lots of normal trains with enough room for everyone to sit down would be much more useful than a small number of really fast ones, and could be packed closer together because they would be able to stop a lot faster. I really can't think of any politician who has mentioned this.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-11 09:19 pm (UTC)"The speed makes a difference to Manchester and Leeds, where you get an hour off the journey, but 20 minutes off the journey to Birmingham is almost irrelevant.
"It is nice but it is not important. It should always have been about capacity."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24009212
no subject
Date: 2013-09-11 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 09:07 am (UTC)High speed running means you can in principle put more capacity on the line. In practice, braking distance increases non-linearly so you need to leave bigger gaps. Also, power consumption goes up non-linearly.
The real answer is actually more railway lines -- not just one HS2 line, but 2-3 regular speed lines. But listen to the NIMBY chorus if you propose to build new railways! (As they take up about as much land area as a motorway when you allow for trackside clearances ...)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 09:36 am (UTC)It seems increasingly like a vanity project to me. Either that or the contractors have dropped a massive wadge of cash into the back pockets of a few key ministers.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 10:52 am (UTC)The line itself is mostly straight, but the problem is that it shares it with other traffic (Shinkansen get dedicated lines). Japan is also quite similar to the UK in terms of there being not much room in which to put a straight line, so recent developments in high-speed trains there have focussed on being able to go faster around bends rather than the ultimate top speed.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 10:57 am (UTC)I wonder what sort of earthquake prevention the Japanese high speed rail system has in place. Presumably they'll have something?
no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-12 02:14 pm (UTC)