London to Leeds and/or Manchester via Birmingham is the long way round! The "Y" if there is to one should be further east, perhaps nearer to the M1/M6 junction.
Many high speed rail stations (in several countries) tend to be out of the way at intermediate stops/interchanges when they should be central. Stratford is classic example, BHX will be another.
Time taken getting to/from a remote HS station, eliminates the benefit. If one has to go out of the way to travel on an HS train, it's probably cheaper to fly.
Last edited by Fairdealfrank; 2nd Sep 2012 at 13:08.