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High speed rail

The conference is an excellent idea. From what I have learned about high speed rail from 10 years' study, best practice in high speed rail includes:

Through stations in the major city centres, rather than terminals;

High speed platforms within the main city centre station, not about quarter of a mile away as proposed for Leeds and Birmingham;
Stations in city centres to provide fast local distribution of the benefits of high speed, not out of town 'parkway' stations such as the three between London and Leeds;

High speed trains to access city centre stations of as many cities as possible, including those off the high speed line, so that people visit those cities to do business. That is how high speed rail becomes a catalyst for economic growth outside London;
Route designed to follow existing transport corridors to minimise environmental damage and opposition.

My impression of the plans for HS2 is that it fails to meet any of the objectives of achieving best practice in any of these criteria. 
I hope the delegates to this conference will appreciate these points.

Re: HS2 seminars to share best practice