Should HS2 be scrapped?

Absolutely yes. All this destruction of the countryside, people's homes, just to shave a few minutes off a train journey?

yes

Surely it would be better to upgrade all our train lines to use them for freight. There are still lots of derelict goods yards that could be used for such a purpose, not to mention the chopping down of ancient woods etc.

Yes, HS2 should be stopped.

Yes

Definitely think of how that money could be spent on the NHS and improving Social Care.

Bit torn on this one. It seems such a lot of money and disruption when the whole rail infrastructure needs to be improved. On the other hand I live in a town which will greatly benefit in terms of jobs and the local economy etc.

Yes. Absolutely.

Yes definitely

If it was running from top North of Scotland to the South coast, the maybe. From Brum to London to shave 20 minutes off a journey, no. There are many places that suffer from lack of decent transport links, my area for one. You have to travel two hour, numerous changes to get anywhere mainline. Let us fix what we have not pay for a white elephant, destroying peoples homes and ancient woodland. Still guess the bloated businessmen can do 20 mins more work on the way to London or home. ?

Yes!

It isn’t just about making journeys quicker. We need to get lorries off the road and use trains more. Our rail system is archaic, partly because, unlike Europe, it wasn’t bombed and replaced during the war. I do think that branch lines should be reopened and rail travel should be extremely cheap for everyone to use.

Lincslass

If it was running from top North of Scotland to the South coast, the maybe. From Brum to London to shave 20 minutes off a journey, no. There are many places that suffer from lack of decent transport links, my area for one. You have to travel two hour, numerous changes to get anywhere mainline. Let us fix what we have not pay for a white elephant, destroying peoples homes and ancient woodland. Still guess the bloated businessmen can do 20 mins more work on the way to London or home. ?

This is completely how I feel too. The squillions which it will eventually cost could be used to dramatically improve the existing network, especially the East-West routes which seem to be the worst for timetabling and rolling stock. The main factor though, for me, is the destruction of acres of ancient woodland, rural communities destroyed, all for a few minutes of a working day. Absolute nonsense. I always said that if I was elected, I would cancel all the H projects; HS2, Heathrow expansion and Hinckley Point.

Yes
And I agree with what ayse says - the whole network needs improvement and could be used to get traffic and freight off the overcrowded roads.

I always said that if I was elected, I would cancel all the H projects; HS2, Heathrow expansion and Hinckley Point.
I'd vote for you!

What Linsclass and GillT57 said. Definitely cancel, and I speak as one who really enjoys travelling on high-speed (and other) trains.

Yes, it should be scrapped. It’s a huge amount of money that could be spent elsewhere. I agree that the entire network needs upgrading. The East Coast line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen still uses diesel trains and some of the signals are the old-fashioned clapperboard ones that you see on Thomas the Tank Engine. I suppose there’s no electricity to power the traffic light style signals.

Yes, it definitely should be scrapped!

Lord Berkeley was on the tv this lunchtime and made reference to enquiries going on in relation to fraud Re HS2.

It was a bad idea from the start and as many have already stated it would have been better to invest in local transport. Also if more people are going to be working from home it could end up being a complete ‘white elephant’.

I agree with most on here. Scrap it and improve east/west and suburban lines.

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

Sorry to derail the main subject but I live in France, originally from the Surrey, and when I first visited my daughter in the north of England, last ten years, I was horrified at the state of the trains. In the 60s my daily trip to work to London, although overcrowded, at least there were frequent trains, trains that were trains, whereas recently in the north I was traveling in sort of converted bus/tram. I couldn’t believe it disgusting considering what the south has. Southerners ought to try traveling in the north.
I would be interest to know whether the person writing is living in the north or south.

It would

I used to travel by rail around Europe as we had free rail travel and I was always ashamed of the state of our railways/trains when I got back to this country.