The proposed 200mph London-to-Birmingham high-speed train route is already in doubt. The estimated cost cost of building it and the claimed benefits are being questioned, not to mention objections by people who live along the proposed route. Chances are increasing that it will not be built and perhaps HSR is more suitable to other countries.
Same troubles here, except distances, physical terrain, incompetent bureaucracies, make the costs beyond comprehension for those few people still able to think today. And the claimed benefits are completely unprovable. I support passenger rail growth, but not the insane stampede of sheep to just do something, anything.
Pehaps London to Birmingham is too short a run in itself and the initial route should cointinue further north. On my first full day in the U.K. in 2010 I left Euston about 7 a.m. and arrived in Birmingham with time to drop my bags at the hotel, have a late breakfast (buffet car on the train was out of action because of no hot water) then get out to Bromsgrove for a couple of hours train watching on the Lickey incline before heading back into Birmingham by midday for lunch. By Australian standards London to Birmingham is a short haul commuter run.
