HS2 and comparing with France

Apologies to my readers for leaving such a very long time between posts.  There have been various things happening at home and work that I will discuss.  I started many stubs for posts, but didn't have the time to bring them to completion, so I am clearing out the backlog, updating them for current events as need be.

For several years in Britain now, a high-speed line between London and Birmingham (initially) and beyond has been under discussion.  I was reading an article about the effects of high-speed rail in France, discussing a study that claims high-speed rail only benefits the managerial classes.  As a successful businesswoman, I am very aware that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.  There are several factors about France's high-speed rail system that they have ignored.

The TGV system is designed to benefit French society as a whole, not just the wealthy.  Spain has pursued the opposite direction until the past week, when it announced its EVA brand, which is intended to serve outlying areas of Barcelona, similar to France's Ouigo service.  The service will go from Madrid-Puerta de Atocha to Camp de Tarragona and El Prat de Llobregat stations (the latter not yet being open for high-speed traffic).  Austria's RailJet service, though it has economy offerings, pursues the business market aggressively, as indicated by the huge reclining Premium seats.  These take up enormous amounts of space: - RailJet trains in normal composition are around 205m long with 408 seats, but Westbahn (the Austrian open-access operator) is purchasing Stadler 6-car (around 25m per car, therefore 150m long) KISS trains with 526 seats.

On the other hand, France concentrates on the fundamentals: - high capacity, good-value offerings and great journey times.  A Frenchwoman doesn't like garish interior decoration, so the relatively simple furnishings even in first class have been highly appreciated.  The TGV Euroduplex sets have 560 seats and the TGV Océane sets have 556 seats.  Also, there are the Ouigo services operated directly by SNCF and the Izy services operated by Thalys which SNCF part-owns.  Ouigo keeps costs down by serving underused stations, whereas the Izy services do this by travelling on slower and cheaper conventional routes: - both have Ryanair-style baggage policies.  Given how impossibly dainty we are, we Frenchwomen have little need for the super-sized Premium seats that OEBB/ÖBB (the Austrian state operator) uses on RailJet services, but they are still cool!

That is not to say that the TGV system doesn't appeal to successful businesswomen such as myself: - we appreciate being able to get lots of work done on the train using our tablet-laptop hybrids whilst we zip between important meetings (as well as fashion shows, in my case).  As France typically has a 35-hour week, the quid pro quo is that high productivity rates are necessary if we want a high standard of living.  We Frenchwomen accomplish this effortlessly.  When I lived and worked in London, was still frowned upon for leaving on time, even though my colleagues wasted lots of time in useless tasks and got half as much work done as me!

HS2 has been criticised as being just a luxury line, but this fails to take account of what the line is intended to do.  It is intended to be a relief line for the congested West Coast Main Line: - the commuter trains are already very packed and the freight capacity is squeezed.  There are passenger trains (e.g. the cramped Pendolino services operated by Virgin) which go a long way north before stopping anywhere: - some London Euston services don't stop until Warrington Bank Quay (near Liverpool).  Such services have no need whatsoever to be on the conventional West Coast Main Line south of Crewe (opening 2027, a year later than the first stage to Birmingham), so HS2 would be useful for such services.

According to an article Railway Gazette recently published about the findings of the "Conseil d’Orientation des Infrastructures" and its recommendations for future direction in railway construction, some lines should be prioritised: - http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/capacity-enhancement-at-hubs-is-spending-priority-says-infrastructure-council.html .  I am delighted that they recommended prioritising the Marseille-Nice line: - I love going to places like Nice, St. Tropez and Monaco because of how ritzy-glitzy they are!  On the other hand, it is a shame they aren't specifically recommending taking forward the LGV Montpellier-Perpignan: - I often have have business in Spain and Bilal loves to visit his homies in Seville and we would love to be able to do this all the way.

Anyway, we shall see what happens with these schemes in the UK and France!

Stuttgart: - a city of viticulture

Though I am heavily pregnant and due to give birth any day now, it was necessary to travel to Germany on business, as I am trying to get my magazine set up with a German office along with all the necessary infrastructure, such as distributors (admittedly, this is less of an issue in the online age).  I am considering the question of which cities to site the premises in.

To me, transport connectivity is a big issue, as in spite of the internet revolution, the fashion business contains many aspects that just require people to be there in person.  Airport connections don't really cut it for a Frenchwoman, as the short working week means she needs to be productive all the time, meaning that if she travels as part of her job, she needs to be able to do work during the journey, i.e. on a laptop/tablet hybrid on a table.  It was therefore necessary to choose a city that is well-linked to France and other German cities.

One of the cities I am considering is Stuttgart.  Current direct journey times from Paris are 3h11m.  This should drop further when the Rastatt Tunnel is opened in 2022.  Frankfurt is 1h17m on the fastest services.  Munich is 2h13m, though this will drop substantially with the Stuttgart 21 project's completion and the new line to Ulm.

Berlin is 5h04m, though it admittedly has a long way to go before it becomes a fashion capital, even though it is full of the metro-trendies from my industry I detest!  The Stuttgart 21 project will convert the main station from a terminus into a through station and shift it underground and will be completed concurrently with the Stuttgart-Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line.  When they all open in 2021, they are expected to reduce journeys starting in Stuttgart by around 26 minutes, with Frankfurt-Munich journeys (via the Stuttgart route) being about 3h00m instead of 3h37m.  The increased saving for through journeys exists because of the time penalty for turning a train around.

In addition to good intercity connections, Stuttgart also has a great metropolitan public transport network, focused mainly on the tram system, but it also has a rack railway and funicular railway as part of its urban transport system, as the city is built on a series of hills.  Being from Marseille, this is something I am used to: - the city is shielded by mountains that mean the city is 8.4 degrees Celcius in January, compared with 5.5 in nearby Aix-en-Provence.  Bilal is more used to it, given the years spent in La Savine, a high-up area of the city.  The city has a series of outdoor staircases, a bit like Los Ángeles.

The Romans quickly discovered that Stuttgart has a mild climate suited to viticulture (some vineyards are a few hundred metres from the main station), which gives it an air of sophistication, though not to the same extent as France.  Germany has a reasonably large number of wine-producing areas: - the Rhine and Mosel(le) valleys are often used for wine cultivation.  The custom in these areas is to pick the grapes when snow arrives, which gives an extremely sweet quasi-dessert wine flavour: - not very good to my way of thinking, being a sophisticated Frenchwoman, but ultra-sweet dessert wines work with a few foods, such as crème caramel and blue cheese (Roquefort being a well-known French example).

Stuttgart is the capital of the Baden-Württemberg state and therefore contains the state parliament.  It is also the biggest city in the state and therefore the place where things are happening.  It is also a huge centre for the automotive industry: - Porsche and Mercedes-Benz are based in the city.  As my readers will know, I am less enthusiastic about cars, given the increased difficulty of finding somewhere to drive at 320km/h (the LGV Est, Rhine-Rhône, Sud-Europe Atlantique and Bretagne), but these two brands have definitely succeeded in creating an image of glamour!  Certainly, Stuttgart is a very prosperous city and these brands reinforce the image of luxury living.

A French it-girl such as myself will always be on the lookout for good places to go shopping.  I haven't slowed down on shopping since becoming a mother, as motherhood is not the time to kick back, neglect personal beauty and end up looking ugly: - this is what silly Anglo-Saxon women do!  Stuttgart is not as fabulous as the best French shopping destinations, but there are some reasonable bargain basement offerings and entry-level international cuisine in the form of the Calwer Passage: - after all, if German women are aspiring to be impossibly perfect and dainty like we Frenchwomen, they have to start somewhere!  MDR.

We shall see if this venture into Germany is successful and whether a whole new country can be made aware of how impossibly and unattainably perfect we French women are (and ideally inspired to replicate our impossible example even though they will never reach it)!