Lines

So today the route for HS2 was announced and I found myself at Maidstone West railway station. The Javelin service runs from here. It goes along the Medway valley, offering stunning views, and then to Strood and Gravesend where it joins the original high-speed 1 (HS1) track; the Channel Tunnel Rail Link or CTRL. Under the Thames, flirting with the QE2 bridge and then parallel with the river until it dives into the tunnel towards the Stratford box and on to St Pancras. It chops time out of the journey and relieves some of the pressure on the commuter run each morning and evening. That London to Manchester might be possible within 70 minutes in my lifetime is wonderful. Of course today the radio has been brimming with folk explaining why it'll never work - mainly based on where we are now rather than any thoughts on how the world might look in twenty years time. Someone suggested that the current track should be upgraded to allow faster services but just looking along here shows how unrealistic that ambition would be. It's 120 years since a new line was laid north of London and the Victorians didn't build bridges and tunnels to accommodate electrification let alone the high-speed rolling stock.

And I was there to wave off child number one who had been on a flying trip. She's spent the weekend at Disneyland Paris with a group of Girl Guides so I was allowed to collect her this morning, take her for a coffee and then to the station.

Monday is done - all aboard for the Tuesday Express!