Old Oak Common options
Having travelled frequently by train as a youngster, then commuting to London since 1957, and now while retired, a few thoughts come to mind.
Surely it is not too late to abandon HS2 to Euston and terminate it at Old Oak Common? Despite the increasing site congestion there, it could potentially save so much money and disruption to so many (including Camden and its residents).
Travel options could be so much easier from Old Oak Common. I suspect that leaving a train at Old Oak Common, one might already be on a Crossrail train to the City before others have detrained at Euston from the same train, avoiding the Deep Tube access and the time or walkway to Euston Square
Terminate Great Western Railway’s West Country and Wales services at Old Oak Common, leaving Cotswold and GWR local services for Paddington, plus Chiltern trains from Birmingham, by an enhanced connection from Ruislip.
Access to Old Oak Common could be enhanced by improving and extending the District Line from Olympia, and also by an expressway for buses and taxis from Paddington over released trackbed no longer required for the remaining services.
Be even bolder: put Chiltern’s Aylesbury Line services into Paddington by (expensive) new connections at Neasden and Old Oak Common, and close Marylebone station and sell off the land/property, including the tunnel (any use for London Underground?).
For future Euston blockades, if they are restricted to south of Willesden why not run Southern services to Milton Keynes or put the shoes back on a Class 350/1 for a London North Western service?
Elsewhere, bi-modes must be electric battery, with power storage getting better all the time.
And Midland Main Line wires should be extended to Leicester to give full electric benefits, particularly to first-stop fast trains for further north.
Finally, what is the definition of ‘safety-critical’? I would have thought near 100% concentration on railway matters, which drivers and controllers and busy signallers do very well, but on which guards let themselves down a bit.
Several times I have seen them sitting in the passenger compartment (often at a table for four) reading newspapers, eating food and using their private mobiles for various reasons, and reluctantly getting up to deal with doors at station stops.
I am a fan of guards, but they should help their case by showing us that they are close to 100% concentration on railway matters. I wonder what other industry safety-critical jobs allow eating, phone use, reading and radio use outside of breaks?