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I heard someone say that they wished it had been called High Capacity 2, rather than High Speed 2.

What we need is more rail capacity, while people opposed to this project latched onto the idea that no one really wanted to get from London to Birmingham (a somewhat unlovely city that is the first major stop on the line) faster.

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Roughly translating the Japanese "Shinkansen" as "New trunk line" or "New main line" would have worked fine. Or "West coast relief line".

Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK. I think people know that, even if they make fun of it.

It's a surprising black hole on the map, seen from London. In 20 years in the country, it has never come into any conversation I've had except for "have you ever been to Birmingham? No, me neither." For a major city so accessible from London, it's very odd.

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