What the UK High Speed Rail network should be

I think the UK needs six high speed railway lines.

HS1 - London to the Channel Tunnel (as now)

HS2 - London to Birmingham, Holyhead, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stranraer/Cairnryan via Preston, and to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen via York and Newcastle

HS3 - Liverpool to Hull (Northern Powerhouse Rail)

HS4 - London to Fishguard Harbour and Plymouth (replacing the GWML)

HS5 - Birmingham to Taunton via Bristol (link between HS2 and HS4)

HS6 - London to Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds via Leicester (in case HS2 runs out of capacity, this would be a straight MML replacement)

There seems little case for an ECML replacement south of York, but the electrification on that and to Cambridge, Ely and King's Lynn could definitely use some TLC. Ben is extremely insistent on that.

Two caveats.

(a) HS5 could probably be delivered by upgrading the existing line wth strategic bypasses.

(b) HS6 is a fallback for if HS2 gets too full.

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