Pretty much anywhere would be better than New St IMO▸ but New St isn't part of HS2▸ anyway. I'm not in a position to compare Moor St and Curzon St, which look very close together on that map.
New Street is a place used of necessity, not choice.
While the demise of the eastern leg of HS2 was widely trailed in an attempt to soften the blow, the decision will have many consequences, some of them for rail passengers but many for the government and the Prime Minister. The latter, having "crashed the car into a ditch" a few days earlier, has crashed the train into the ditch. The usual "don't explain, don't apologise, move on" method of dealing with political problems won't work. The Labour party won't need a manifesto around Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and others for the next election, just a compilation video of "what he said, what he did" moments. There will be some rejoicing in other places, as residents living along the now abandoned route celebrate the cancellation, but it will be brief. The route is preserved, with reinstatement of the plans a possibility after the next election, and the communities that weren't bought out earlier will suffer the same blight as the people of Sipson, in the way of Heathrow's third runway.
One of the reasons given for HS2 as opposed to an upgrade of the
WCML▸ was the huge disruption the latter would cause. So it will be for the frozen wastes of the north, with no trains on many routes over weekends for a few years. No number of cheerful cameo appearances by Grant Shapps will sugar that pill. Bradford will still be hardly levelled up at the end of it all, and is but one of many losers among the red wall constituencies.
The reason is clearly money, the excuses being given intended to make it sound like it isn't about money. Leeds gets the possibility of a tram system as a consolation prize, 17 years after the cancellation of its last plans and with no guarantee the rug won't be pulled at the last minute, like last time. The PM's contention that big rail construction projects are "grindingly slow" is valid to a point, but he really means that they can't be done within the lifetime of a parliament. Like Hinkley C and the Edinburgh tramway, it's a political liability until it starts working, by which time the party that was complaining loudest in opposition might be the one cutting the tape and accepting the plaudits. No-one remembers the disruption caused one things start to roll, and once built, a railway can be forever.
There are few winners. One is the Chancellor, who seems to be keeping quiet and letting the boss bat away the bouncers and googlies. I'm sure that when the time is right, he will be able to step in to rebuild trust in the party, leaving the current incumbent of number 10 able to spend more time with his family, or more likely someone else's family.
The most worrying thought is that having replaced a grand scheme with a number of smaller projects, there will be a lot more opportunity for selective cheese paring - the loss of electrics here, a lower line speed there. The finished product could end up as nothing recognisable when compared to the announcements, a bit like the electrification of
GWR▸ to Oxford and Swansea.
It will happen one day, but it's an opportunity missed.
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