From: Tony Porch
Topic: HS2

Because I believe that the building of further HS lines is so critical to the long term economic wellbeing of the UK, my thoughts on this subject are:

The Y option idea should be scrapped as it is too miserly. Because of our present economic plight we should be thinking big, as we must rebalance our economy away from a pre-dominantly service one to an advanced manufacturing one; less reliance can then be placed on services such as international banking

There should be separate East and West Coast HS lines to Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively. As Mr Salmond is so keen on the idea then his government should make an appropriate contribution to the cost of the lines in Scotland and not scrounge, as is his wont, off the English taxpayer; this should fit in favourably with his idea of having more control over the Scottish economy, especially if he achieves his fatuous independence

There should be better connections to the HS1, that bypass London; you should ultimately be able to travel directly from Manchester to, let’s say, Düsseldorf without having to change or wait in one of the London terminus stations.

A second pair of tunnels should be built under the English Channel to allow for capacity increases as well as doubling the existing HS1.

A high priority should also be given to developing high speed freight services to use HS lines.