High Speed 2 (HS2)

[llamaorama]

I never really paid much attention to this project until recently.

Old Oak Common is just weird. It's going to only have one street going in and out of it, Old Oak Common Lane, which is only 2 lanes wide. It's meant to be a mega transfer stop but only to the Elizabeth line. The Central tube line and Overground lines are right there but not quite close enough to have a directly attached station. It's a very inaccessible and odd location.

I also still do not understand why they ruled out a connection to HS1.

On the other hand, Old Oak Common to the new Birmingham terminal does function really well as a "minimum operable segment", so it ensures the project can continue. If they weighed it down too much who knows what would have happened.