High Speed Rail 2 is a massive white elephant, a £50bn boondoggle of a project as out of time as it is over priced. Yet, despite this I am a little sore that the bid Stoke-on-Trent put forward for a station got dismissed out of hand. Were it on the basis of a competition in which its projections got weighed up against those of a rival’s and found wanting, then fair enough. That didn’t happen, and what we have been left with – the ‘Crewe hub’ – is the worst of all possible worlds.
I’ve never been sold on the economic benefits HS2 will bring. Sure, construction, engineering, and railway jobs will get created – though for the former as the line’s first phase begins works from London towards Birmingham, this particular project won’t be helping regional rebalancing in the build phase. Then there are the claims made for it. For instance, Cheshire East leader Michael Jones says: Continue reading
ong and proud connection to the railways. In 1825, George Stephenson’s engine – locomotion, became the world’s first steam locomotive to carry passengers, and the public railway was born. In the years following thousands of miles of rail track were laid connecting every part of the UK, as the industrial revolution became driven by steam.
Public investment: jobs created, facilities improved, recession tackled- surely it’s no bad thing. It’s the antidote to austerity we’ve all pleaded for. As Keynes once said, “the government should pay people to dig holes in the ground and then fill them up”. So, whether its high speed rail or hole digging, public investment in any shape or form is the best way to get us out of this mess – surely? Coming from Leeds, that was my opinion of HS2 – initially.
The lure of high speed rail travel has proven too much for ministers to resist. Seduced by the chance to finally emulate its European neighbours, Britain will have its very own TGV in the not so near future.