As I've said elsewhere, I'm not against the idea of HS2 or HS3 but I'd rather see the money spent on upgrading the entire rail network - north to south; east to west - which might include building new lines or reopening old ones.

With the exception of track replacement, electrification and signalling, the network hasn't changed much since its Victorian heyday. In fact, as lines have closed, one could argue that our railways are in a worse state now than they were 100 years ago.