HS2 should go ahead – but we can afford to be even more ambitious

Boris Johnson is right to review the controversial and expensive high-speed rail project – but one idea is not enough to ensure our transport system becomes carbon neutral

Anti-HS2 demonstrators gather outside London’s Euston station (Getty)

The Independent has long been sceptical about a new high-speed railway line adding to the hub-and-spoke network based around London. It risks further adding to the capital’s gravitational pull on the UK economy, and any environmental and economic efficiency benefits will be purchased at a high price.

So we cannot object to Boris Johnson’s decision to review the project, and we welcome the speed with which it will be carried out, reporting in the autumn. But, unless the review discovers important new reasons to the contrary, the project should go ahead.

The new line will add significantly to the capacity of the rail network, and particularly to its north-south trunks. This will benefit the English midlands and the north; it will have spillover benefits in improving local services; and it will reduce the economic costs of a zero-carbon transport system.