No, freight doesn't belong on high speed lines anyway, so it'd be routed around south of london on the existing freight routes from Ashford across to Reading.

Passengers would change at St Pancras for a new line through to Ireland. A big problem is that the best route is heavily opposed by nimbys in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

The big problem in the UK is that the current plan for HS2 is just stupid and diverts attention from the more logical E Midlands route along the old Gt Central. This affords many options for branching off to the west.

keep to the Fen Causeway