HS2: Review to examine costs and benefits of rail project
The government is launching a review of high-speed rail link HS2 - with
a "go or no-go" decision by the end of the year, the Transport
Secretary Grant Shapps has said.
It will consider whether and how the project to connect London, the Midlands and northern England should proceed.
Billions have already been spent, but Mr Shapps refused to rule out scrapping it entirely.
He said it was "responsible" to see whether the benefits really "stack up".
Phase 1 of the development between London and Birmingham is due to open at the end of 2026, with the second phase to Leeds and Manchester scheduled for completion by 2032-33.
It is designed to carry trains capable of travelling at 250mph.
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When asked about the billions already spent on the project, Mr Shapps said: "Just because you've spent a lot of money on something does not mean you should plough more and more money into it."
He said ministers were asking the reviewers "just give us the facts".
"Go and find out all the information that's out there… genuinely
what it would cost to complete this project, and then we'll be in a much better
position to make that decision - go or no-go by the end of the year."
The review will be chaired by Douglas Oakervee, a civil engineer and
former chair of HS2 Ltd.
Lord Berkeley, another civil engineer who worked on the construction of
the Channel Tunnel, will act as his deputy. The Labour peer has previously been
critical of the project.
A final report will be sent to the government in the autumn.
Rising cost
During the Conservative Party leadership campaign Boris Johnson said he
would not scrap plans for the new rail link, but did express "anxieties
about the business case".
In July, the current chairman of the project reportedly warned that the total cost
could rise by £30bn - up from the current budget of £56bn.
Labour peer Lord Adonis, a former transport secretary who worked as an
infrastructure adviser to Theresa May, said the review was "as stupid as
you can get" and would "screw Birmingham and the North"
He tweeted that it would become "a massive bun fight, while the
transport department runs for cover and HS2 Ltd is paralysed by
indecision".
The review will look into:
- Cost estimates so far
- Opportunities for efficiency savings
- The environmental impact, focusing specifically on net zero carbon
commitment
- Whether the economic and business case made for HS2 is accurate
- The added costs of cancelling the project or changing its scope, such as
combining phases 1 and 2a (Birmingham to Crewe), reducing the speed or building
only phase 1
What does HS2
mean for passengers?
Former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling argued that new rail links were
needed to take pressure off a system which was "bursting at the
seams".
And in June this year, more than 20 business leaders urged the government to deliver HS2 in full, arguing it would "spread the flow of investment across the Midlands, the North of England and into Scotland".
The Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, who will sit on the review panel, said HS2 was "vital" for the West Midlands and is "already creating jobs and building new homes".
However, some rail experts have raised concern about the expense of the project, with infrastructure consultant Michael Byng arguing the London to Birmingham phase alone could cost double the current budget.
In May, a committee of peers argued the project risked "short changing" the North of England.
Their report said the scheme put too much emphasis on cutting journey times and not enough on the economic impact on regions.
It also called for the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme - a separate scheme connecting towns and cities in the region - to be completed alongside HS2.
Source: BBC News
21 August 2019