What’s the point of HS2?
Christian Wolmar, 17 April 2014
The issue is whether the pain inflicted on the few is worth the gain for the many. The fate of the HS2 project should not and cannot be determined by angry locals. A national scheme now estimated to cost £50 billion (this figure includes a contingency of £14 billion and rolling-stock costs of around £7 billion) is bound to be controversial. To counter the objections, the case for HS2 needs to be overwhelming. And it is not. The French use their LGV for postal services as well as passenger trains and the TGV shares the tracks with conventional services.
