Stunned by potential impact of HS2

I had heard of the proposal for 14 trains an hour in each direction on the new line, but thought this was a guess at some future expectation from an extrapolated use growth curve. What I had not realised is that the West Coast Main Line is to be diverted from Nuneaton, Rugby and Milton Keynes to run right through Cubbington Woods. All express passenger trains from London to the North West and Glasgow will use this route, not the current main line.

And it gets worse as the proposal is that this route will also carry traffic to Leeds and so to north east England and the rest of Scotland. This change will happen from the day the line opens although trains north of Lichfield will be restricted to slower speeds. Also, only a few of these trains will actually go into Birmingham which is on a branch line. The value of this appears to be so commuters from Milton Keynes can have trains every five minutes to get them to work in London, at the same time downgrading Coventry and Rugby from mainline stations to commuter stops.

I do wonder how many actually realise what is being proposed here. Do we really want all express trains from London (and possibly the continent through a link with HS1) to travel on this proposed new route? I am not fundamentally opposed to investment in improved rail services in UK, but feel I have been at best ill informed about this proposal. - Ian Hodgskinson, Rubgy Road, Cubbington.