£56,000,000,000 for HS2. And who’s counting? Could it be £65bn or even, as some people are suggesting, £75bn?
But even if comes in at budget (stop laughing at the back!) is this money well spent – or is it money madness?
HS2 is a proposed high speed rail link between London & Birmingham and will cut the journey time from 1hr 24mis to 49mins. In the second phase it is proposed to then link with Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and, eventually, Scotland.
Supporters argue that it is necessary to meet the UK’s demand for nationwide rail travel. They also state that this kind of transport is the greenest, safest and most efficient form of transport. It will also reduce car use and help the Northern economy.
Detractors say that there are other alternatives such as increasing train lengths on existing routes – and who is going to benefit? Maybe just a handful of businessmen?
There are huge environmental costs to the green belt and wildlife and areas of natural beauty. And rather than reduce the North-South divide it could increase it – encouraging people to live further away from London and then use HS2 to fast commute to the capital.
How many people will be displaced as they have to be re-located due to the route?
And forecasts for passenger numbers are uncertain and so are the final costs. Will £56bn be the final bill?
But there is another factor and one that normally gets overlooked. Could the money be better spent?
Why not make the whole network of UK railways (including the London Underground) step free? Cutting 35 minutes off the travel time from London to Birmingham may sound seductive but how about allowing millions of people with mobility problems being able to move around much more freely? How many minutes would that save?
Wouldn’t that be of greater benefit to the UK economy?
Out of the 70 step-free London Underground stations (from a total of 270) only around half are step-free from the platform on to the train. We believe this to be a London scandal. But if the funding for TfL is not forthcoming then what can they do?
Sadiq Khan – Mayor of London
So could money from HS2 make the rail network step-free? We asked the Mayor if he received £25bn could he make the London Underground step-free? This is what he told us.
“TfL does not have detailed costs for making the entire Tube network step-free, but £25bn would likely be more than sufficient to achieve this aim. However, it is extremely unlikely that TfL would ever receive such levels of funding for these improvements.”
Chris Grayling – Secretary of State for Transport
So, would the HS2 £56bn make the whole network totally inclusive and accessible? We’ve asked Chris Grayling and we are awaiting his answer. You will read it here first.