The Anonymous Widower

Could High Speed Two Serve Blackpool North?

Consider.

• Blackpool North station is electrified and will have an electrified route to London Euston HS2 and Birmingham Curzon Street stations, when High Speed Two opens.
• Yesterday, both 11-car and 9-car Class 390 trains, which are longer than single High Speed Two classic-compatible trains, used Blackpool North station.
• Blackpool is noted for fresh air and fun.
• Blackpool needs leveling-up. Surely High Speed Two will help with this?
• Blackpool has a unique Modern and Ancient tramway to bring residents and visitors to High Speed Two.

I am fairly sure, that single High Speed Two class-compatible trains could use Blackpool North station.

But could another High Speed Two service have a path between London and Preston to serve Blackpool?

Because of the cancellation of Phase 2 of High Speed 2, there are spare paths on High Speed Two between London and the West Midlands.

If the core section of High Speed Two is extended Northwards to Crewe, as advocated by Dyan Perry of the High Speed Rail Group, that I wrote about in The Future Of HS2 Could Lie In Its Original Vision, this would create extra paths to Crewe.

It looks to me, that the tricky part of the route is between Crewe and Preston.

This diagram shows High Speed Two services, as they were originally envisaged before Phase 2 was discontinued.

Note.

1. Trains to the left of the vertical black line are Phase 1 and those to the right are Phase 2.
2. Full-Size trains are shown in blue.
3. Classic-Compatible trains are shown in yellow.
4. Blue circles are shown, where trains stop.
5. The dotted circles are where trains split and join.
6. In the red boxes routes alternate every hour.

Click on the diagram to enlarge it.

Note that if Phase 1 were to be completed to Crewe, there would be five full-size and five classic-compatible trains using the West Midlands and Crewe section of the High Speed Two route, of which five trains would terminate at Manchester Piccadilly HS2 station and two classic-compatible trains would terminate at Liverpool Lime Street.

So just three Scottish trains and one to Lancaster would go North of Warrington Bank Quay station, which would be an average of one train every fifteen minutes.

High Speed Two will be fully digitally signalled and I’m sure that trains could run as flights of two or more trains, a couple of minutes apart.

This would mean that a London and Blackpool North service could run say two minutes behind one of the London and Scotland services to Preston

• Between London and the West Midlands, there would be twelve trains per hour (tph).
• Between the West Midlands and Crewe, there would be also be twelve tph.
• Between Crewe and Preston, there would be five tph.

I believe it would be possible for High Speed Two  to run a London and Blackpool North service, provided that the London Euston to Crewe core of High Speed Two is completed soon after Phase 1 is completed.

It should also be noted, that I believe the second Scottish service from London could also have a flight with another service. So could Barrow or Blackburn have a High Speed Two service from London?

May 13, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Barrow-in-Furness Station, Birmingham Curzon Street Station, Blackburn Station, Blackpool, Blackpool North Station, Blackpool Tramway, Class 390 Train, Euston Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Warrington Bank Quay Station