Announce the platform, and hold passengers on the ramp or the platform if you must. #HelpfulSuggestions #euston

Some more reasons why HS2 is cripplingly expensive: It's not just a railway, it's also a 140 mile long nature reserve. 7 million trees and shrubs. Net biodiversity gains. Rare fauna planting. Chalk hill reshaping. Wetland creation. Cycle paths and bridleways. Reptile habitats. Public viewing points. River realignment with new bends, pools, and riffles. "Alongside the construction of Britain's new high speed railway, HS2 is delivering one of the largest environmental programmes ever undertaken in the UK". You'd think that a new railway would be environmentally beneficial enough. But no. Because this is a government project it can't just be a railway. It has to be a nature reserve too, and a jobs creator, plus a view protector, forest creator, and the most expensive bat protection project in the world. Thanks to all these expensive boondoggles, the railway itself has been cut and cut and cut, and no longer goes to Leeds or Manchester - it's been slashed from 330 miles to 140. It would obviously be better for the environment to have forgone the nature slop and just built the sodding railway in full, on time, and within budget. The Victorians weren't magically better at building than we seemingly are today. When private companies build a railway they care about costs, profit, and efficiency. When a government builds a railway they care about creating a camel to appeal to all people. It can't just be a railway. It has to be so much more. And that's when we see costs spiral to destruction.