28 September 2023

It seems that HS2 may be about to hit the buffers.  “High-speed railway number 2” may, as you read this, have already been shunted into the sidings.  The proposed Yorkshire leg was scrapped in 2021 and now it looks like the Birmingham-Manchester route could go the same way, as already astronomical costs continue to spiral out of control.  All that will remain is a new line from London to Birmingham, costing an eye-watering £40bn, duplicating existing routes and causing irreparable environmental damage; however, it won’t even call at the existing New Street and Euston stations, and there will be little connectivity with other rail services.

Trumpeted as offering a vital connection between London, the Midlands and the North, HS2 is in fact nothing of the sort.  It was originally drawn up by the Labour government 15 years ago, on the back of a proverbial fag-packet, as a job-creation scheme.  In this way, it strongly resembles the “Famine Roads” of earlier times, where unemployed people in Britain and Ireland were made to work for their dole on building pointless, unwanted roads across wild moorland.  Subsequent Conservative governments (initially in coalition with the Liberal Democrats) eagerly latched onto HS2 as a way of channelling huge amounts of money to their friends in the major construction companies.

The idea that a railway designed only to carry passengers - not freight - between a very few stations, poorly-connected to the existing network, could offer lasting “levelling-up” benefits is just Mickey-Mouse economics.  In this day and age - particularly since the pandemic - more and more meetings are held online;  business travel is decreasing.

Furthermore, if HS2 does go ahead and trains are re-routed, towns like Macclesfield and Wilmslow will actually lose their direct London services.  Public transport needs massive investment to improve services, not this huge white elephant.

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