Should HS2 be scrapped?

mokryna
I think trains in the south used by commuters are extremely overcrowded too (pre-Covid). It all needs a complete overhaul and the money would be far better spent on the whole network than on shortening one journey for a privileged few.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-54279550

MayBee70

So how do we get cars and lorries off the roads/motorways ?

HS2 won't take cars/lorries off motorways if there's only one main route and links are bad at the destinations and people have to transfer to road travel. That's why it would be better to have a functioning network, which links small towns. The rail system east/west is appalling. Where I live, it's sometimes quicker to travel into and out of London for a 50 mile trip. I've also tried to use public transport for cross Pennine routes and from towns in Greater Manchester to the city centre. All of them were inefficient and expensive, so it's no wonder people use roads.

I thought it was always going to be an expensive white elephant and should never have been started. They say it goes to the North - fine if you live in Leeds, but what about us in the North East - home of the first railway!
As usual, we barely exist. Must put cloth cap on and take whippet out.

Top answer Smilesless2012.

You can’t upgrade existing lines without disrupting the whole system for years.

A massive mistake. Over budget and late. There's a surprise. I would rather see that money being used on the current rail lines and rolling stock and improve them in both appearance and reliability. This project probably has a good number of Boris's mates coining it in so he won't pull the plug.

I think it should of been but now going by the amount of work and disruption taking place near me it may already too late to justify stopping and the waste of millions already spent. I may be proved wrong.

Yes it should be scrapped. The money they are spending on it could be much better spent upgrading the rest of the rail network. I live in the Tyne valley, our sprinter trains have just been replaced but we got second hand trains not new ones.
It's a busy line too.

Why is HS2 terminating at Leeds? Why not Carlisle, Newcastle, Edinburgh or Glasgow?
I don't class Leeds as the north!