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@ P Wagland............HS2 is more than just a rail line to save " 30 minutes ". Its is required because the current rail axis north to south has been deemed to full to capacity in the next few years. HS2 above anything else is designed to tackle that problem, and at the same time bring about both increased frequencies and better journey times between ALL the major conurbations in the UK. You say it woul destroy 400 homes in the Camden area.......yes it will, but of course this is inevitable. Around 2% of land use in the UK is deemed to change every year for a variety of reasons, mainly for new investment, so its nothing new. Of course projects like Thames Gateway heading out east mitigate loss of older properties. HS2 will cost £32 billion spread over 20 years........this is the equivalent yearly spend on Crossrail, and in fact Crossrail will complete just as HS2 is due to start construction. In other words, it business as usual. As far as longer trains go, this is already happening ..eg the Virgin Pendolino set are getting an extra 2 carriages each. You say that this will take more people and freight off the roads.......HS2 IS designed for that , and in particular , releasing capacity on the current network to allow extra paths for freight trains. You also state that rail should be in public ownership.......it pretty much is today !! The biggest player in the industry ( Network Rail ) is in effect an arms length goverment department. IT HAS NO SHAREHOLDERS !! Revenues are derived from the government and also track access charges it makes to the train operators. The train operators themselves are private, but their market is defined by franchise agreements, which are set by the government. Involving the private sector in government business is nothing new.