£55bn HS2 line ‘a vanity project that won’t boost North’
THE HS2 rail line will cost five times as much as its French equivalent and do little to help regenerate the North of England, experts warned yesterday.
An academic review of the £55 billion ‘vanity’ project to build a rail link from London to the North called for it to be halted so cheaper alternatives can be considered.
HS2 has been championed by David Cameron and George Osborne, despite major concerns over the value for money it offers taxpayers.
The study, led by Professor Tony May from Leeds University and transport consultant Jonathan Tyler, found that the TGV line from Tours to Bordeaux under construction in France cost £32 million a mile, compared to £169 million a mile for HS2.
Professor James Croll, of University College London, said opting for a line operating at 250 mph per hour had increased costs without providing major benefits. He urged ministers to cut speeds to 190mph, the same as the TGV network.
Mr Croll said the planned 250 mph speed was ‘just vanity’, adding: ‘The UK is far too small geographically to need an ultra-high speed network.’ He said: ‘The decision to design for [250 mph] has led to a succession of needlessly expensive knock- on effects in construction.’
The study warns the regeneration benefits to the North are ‘uncertain’ and warns improvements in connectivity will be ‘limited’.
A spokesman for HS2 Ltd, the company behind the planned link, said: ‘The French section of track is not comparable. The French track has no new stations, it does not go through a dense built-up urban area, it does not have the tunnels that we are building on HS2 to protect the environment and property prices are very low in comparison to the UK.’
The academics claim a ‘fuller range of options’ should have been considered and calls for a review to assess several ‘much less costly’ options to boost capacity.
The first-phase HS2 link between London and Birmingham is expected to be finished by around 2026, while a second phase, reaching the northeast and north-west of England, is due to finish by around 2032.