HS2 to get government go-ahead
The long-awaited and controversial HS2 project is set to be given the formal green light by ministers today. Transport Secretary Justine Greening is set to rubber-stamp proposals for the £32bn rail scheme, which will initially link London to Birmingham in 49 minutes, in the next few hours.
The 100-mile project has been dogged by criticism from some residents, politicians and anti-HS2 protestors from the get-go.
However, it seems the government will agree with the House of Commons Transport Committee, which backed the plans in November last year following an inquiry.
Benefits of the scheme are said to include a £44bn windfall over the next 60 years and the creation of up to 400,000 jobs.
The first phase of the high-speed rail scheme – which will cost £17bn - would link London to Birmingham by 2026, followed by the procession of a Y-shaped route to take in Leeds and Manchester. The northern sector is estimated for completion by 2032/33.
Louise Ellman, chairman of the Transport Committee, said: "A high-speed rail (HSR) network, beginning with a line between London and the West Midlands, would provide a step change in the capacity, quality, reliability and frequency of rail services between our major cities.
"A high-speed line offers potential economic and strategic benefits which a conventional line does not, including a dramatic improvement in connectivity between our major cities, Heathrow and other airports, and the rest of Europe."
Research from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) previously stated that there was a "significant risk" that HS2 could be a "disaster"
A study by the organisation slammed the high-speed rail scheme as a "political vanity project" which has been based on "bogus assumptions".
The study, entitled 'High Speed 2: The Next Government Project Disaster?' suggested the project runs the risk of having higher-than-forecast costs and lower-than-forecast benefits.
Richard Wellings, co-author of the report, described the scheme as "another political vanity project – like Concorde and the Millennium Dome – being ploughed ahead with complete disregard for properly thought-through commercial prospects or the mounting opposition to it".
It goes on to condemn the government's "wasteful allocation of resources" in relation to the multibillion-pound scheme.
