On Mar 31, 3:15*pm, Jamie Thompson wrote:
On Friday, 30 March 2012 11:47:49 UTC+1, 77002 *wrote:
On Mar 30, 11:32*am, Chris Sanderson wrote:
Err, nothing will need to be 'widened' to any great extent, the
Central Line is paralleled at the southern end by the essentially
disused 'New North Mainline' whose formation HS2 will use. Your idea
would also miss out OOC - a vital interchange for Heathrow, services
from the West Country and the Thames Valley, and crucially Crossrail.
The current route is by far the most sensible, which is presumably why
its been chosen...

Indeed, the UK planners are very fortunate to have a virtually
unutilized four track formation out of London. *This presents an
enormous cost saving.

OTOH, HS2 as proposed is overkill.

FWIW, I still feel said formation would be far better used for connecting Crossrail to the Chiltern mainline to relive Marylebone than a short surface section for HS2. For the sake of a few miles more of tunnel you retain the possibility of both increasing services on the Chiltern line as well as reliving Marylebone for more "mainline" services.

There is probably room for both. My preference would be to see
Crossrail serve the slow AC stations on the WCML. The Amersham and
Aylesbury route would work well as a branch of Thameslink. The
Metropolitan would run the "slow" service to Watford, leaving the
fasts for Thameslink. Chiltern could then focus on providing the
stopping service to Birmingham, while HS2 provides the fast service.