A thought on HS2

[ffutures]

Prompted by this post by 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.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

The problem with high capacity trains is that you need high capacity platforms -- to get passengers on and off them -- at every station stop. And you lose flexibility: a single 1000-seat train every hour is probably less useful than a 500-seat train every half hour.

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 ...)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

By high capacity I meant more of the normal trains, not bigger trains, but I see your point. I would have thought that with modern technology the gaps between trains could be shorter, but I suppose there has to be a big safety margin.