Why is the HS2 proposal for the standard European gauge? If built to an enhanced loading gauge, it ould accommodate 3.5 metre wide passenger trains such as Bombardier's Gröna Tåget. This is a development of the Regina (above) and provides comfortable 2+3 seating - 25% more capacity than a conventional width train.
And then there are double-stack high-cube containers to be fitted in. All of which would add relatively little extra to the cost, and would in any case be much less expensive if built as a conventional speed railway.
I wrote to my MP on two entirely separate issues recently. The first was to do with the replacement for the Inter City 125 train, which at £2.6 million per vehicle, is twice as expensive as it ought to be. The second concerned the benefits of a switch from business rate and Council Tax to a tax based on site values. In both cases, the replies were full of spurious, unsubstantiated assertions and completely flawed arguments. This is typical. You will not get an iota of sense from the government on any area of public policy at all - finance, economics, trade and employment, agriculture, housing, health, transport, energy. All junk. If you write to your MP you will invariably receive answers that are an insult to your intelligence, no matter what subject you are writing about. Of course they cannot understand statistics. They are innumerate. Whitehall is staffed with idiots with a high IQ. Look at their IT projects. And mind your purse, they will have that too.
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