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HS2: Capacity concerns raised again after Lord Hendy says Euston station will have six platforms


18/12/2024 in News

The HS2 tunnel site. HS2 Ltd.

Keeping HS2’s Euston station would leave the high-speed route “working at half capacity forever”.




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  • Grace - 18/12/2024 16:52

    Most professional railway people know that we need a new line to unlock capacity of our 3 existing north-south trunk routes, the simplest way to unlock a large amount of that is to remove all of the fast trains and run them together on a fast route. Unfortunately consultants and dreamers wanted the world's fastest railway for a rather small country, this is very expensive to build will be equally expensive to maintain (slab track is great until you need to replace it!). Just look at the farce of the new ECML timetable, the WCML is equally challenged. HS2 was never the railway we needed, and now it has proven itself to be just TOO expensive, what an opportunity lost!

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  • Adamedwards17 - 19/12/2024 09:57

    Is this 6 platforms plus space left for more (like at Heathrow terminal 5 where there is space for extra platforms and lines) OR 6 plus space for more if part of the existing Euston is converted (as per the original 6 and then 5 plan) OR is this ONLY 6 platforms with remaning land sold/built over, which would be extremely stupid? Can Lord Hendy clarify please?

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  • Philip Sargent - 20/12/2024 19:48

    The ideal supplement to six extra platforms at Euston could be a set of through lines in the Euston St Pancras area with lines going through onto HS1. London doesn't have to be the end of the route. A link line gives opportunities for through trains to Stratford, Ebbsfleet and into Kent, utilising existing platforms and extra ones built more cheaply in Kentish cities. Critically, that also paves the way to eventually compete internationally with air routes such as Manchester to Paris or Amsterdam. Using the savings on Euston platforms to fund or part fund linking HS2 and HS1 and creating Manchester to Europe routes would put more trains on both HS2 and HS1 and have the potential to increase the return on investment more promptly. It also solves the problem of needing more international trains without exacerbating capacity problems at St Pancras.

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