I have spent a decade fighting HS2, and the arguments to support it keep getting worse
It should be obvious that moving more and more people greater distances for work is unsustainable and incompatible with the acceptance of a climate emergency
High-speed rail. It sounds like it must be a great idea doesn’t it? That’s what I thought when I first heard those three little words, but then I made the mistake of finding out a bit more.
I quickly realised that HS2 is a disastrous project arrived at in a policy vacuum, pushed forward by the firms that want to build it, and promoted with a thin veneer of arguments that make great soundbites, but do not stand up to scrutiny. So I went to a few meetings, and with a career switch that I never quite understood myself from engineering to campaigning, I got pushed to the front.
A decade of following and analysing everything HS2 related later, and I despair at how is has been allowed to survive.
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With Lord Berkeley claiming HS2 is “rampant” with evidence of cost overruns, cover-ups and fraud, a £30bn over-run apparently appearing from nowhere, claims that parliament was misled, and no one seeming to know exactly where Boris Johnson stands on the project, there has been a recent flurry of attempts to justify HS2.
As ever with the project, these have differing degrees of plausibility. There are even half-hearted claims that high-speed rail isn’t really about speed but something more laudable, despite the fact the 250mph design speed dictates everything about the project: minimising functionality and flexibility, prohibiting freight, denying intermediate stops and increasing not only the cost of building the railway but also the carbon footprint, land take and damage to the environment and communities.
UK news in pictures
Show all 50
UK news in pictures
1/50 3 February 2020
Police activity inside a cordon where a man was shot by armed police in a terrorist-related incident in Streatham, London
EPA
2/50 2 February 2020
Micheal Ward with his Rising Star Award alongside Daniel Kaluuya Baftas
Reuters
3/50 1 February 2020
Activists attend an anti-Conservative government, pro-Scottish independence, and anti-Brexit demonstration outside Holyrood, the seat of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh
AFP via Getty
4/50 31 January 2020
Pro EU supporters display a banner ' Here to Stay, Here to Fight, Migrants In, Tories Out' from Westminster bridge in front of the Houses of Parliament in London. Britain officially exits the EU on 31 January, beginning an eleven month transition period
EPA
5/50 30 January 2020
Kiko the 2-year-old British Bulldog skateboarding with his owner, Ebel Perez, from Shiremoor, North Tyneside
PA
6/50 29 January 2020
British MEP's and their assistants along with members of the political group Socialist and Democrats at a ceremony prior to the vote on the UK's withdrawal from the EU at the European Parliament in Brussels
AP
7/50 28 January 2020
Torches are lit using a flare ahead of the Up Helly Aa Viking festival. Originating in the 1880s, the festival celebrates Shetland's Norse heritage
PA
8/50 27 January 2020
England bowler Mark Wood is lifted aloft by Joe Root after taking the final wicket of South Africa to win the match and series during day four of the Fourth Test at Wanderers in Johannesburg
Getty
9/50 26 January 2020
Performers taking part in a parade involving costumes, lion dances and floats, during Chinese New Year celebrations in central London, which marks the Year of the Rat
PA
10/50 25 January 2020
A couple walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
PA
11/50 24 January 2020
Boris Johnson gestures as he watches a performance during celebrations for Chinese Lunar New Year at Downing Street in London
Reuters
12/50 23 January 2020
Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe stands next to her father Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his mother Barbara, as they address the media in Downing Street following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson
PA
13/50 22 January 2020
Rosa Connolly takes a close look during a preview of the Tyrannosaurs exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
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14/50 21 January 2020
The sun sets behind tower cranes and the London skyline in the city financial district
PA
15/50 20 January 2020
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, speaks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as they attend the UK-Africa Investment Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel in London. Johnson is hosting African leaders and senior government representatives along with British and African businesses during the UK-Africa Investment Summit, aimed at strengthening the UKs economic partnership with African nations
Getty
16/50 19 January 2020
Joe Root celebrates with his England team mates after taking the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen during day four of the third Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. He took a career-best four wickets during the day's play, which saw the home side follow on in their second innings. They trail England by 188 runs going into day five
Getty
17/50 18 January 2020
Drag queens pose on the pink carpet as they participate in the "Queen's Walk" during RuPaul's DragCon UK at Kensington Olympia
AFP via Getty
18/50 17 January 2020
Kitty Ross, curator of social history, is pictured reflected in a display cabinet while holding a skeleton violin from the 1880s that forms part of the Sounds of our City exhibition at the Abbey House Museum in Leeds
PA
19/50 16 January 2020
Britain's Harry, Duke of Sussex (C), hosts the Rugby League World Cup 2021 draw in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, 16 Ja​nuary 2020. The Duke, who is expected to step back from senior Royal duties, spoke with Ruby League ambassadors and children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in London
EPA
20/50 15 January 2020
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21/50 14 January 2020
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PA
22/50 13 January 2020
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PA
23/50 12 January 2020
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24/50 11 January 2020
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25/50 10 January 2020
One of seven new lion cubs at the West Midlands Safari Park in Kidderminster
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26/50 9 January 2020
Rawson Robinson, from Nenthead, on the Cumbria and Northumberland border clears snow from the model village he has built in his garden
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27/50 8 January 2020
People read messages written on the David Bowie mural in Brixton, south London, on what would have been the singer's 73rd birthday
PA
28/50 7 January 2020
England's Stuart Broad celebrates with teammate Ben Stokes after the dismissal of South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen during the fifth day of the second Test cricket match in Cape Town. Stokes claimed the last three wickets in the space of 14 deliveries to wrap up a 189-run win
AFP via Getty
29/50 6 January 2020
Protesters in London take part in a demonstration in support of a British woman found guilty of lying about being gang raped in Cyprus
AP
30/50 5 January 2020
Protesters demonstrate outside the US Embassy in London, after America killed Iran's general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad's international airport
PA
31/50 4 January 2020
Metropolitan police cordon off Charteris Road close to the junction with Lennox Road in Finsbury Park in north London, after a man was stabbed to death on Friday evening, the first murder in London in 2020
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32/50 3 January 2020
Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London after the US killed General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad's international airport. Soleimani was head of Tehran's elite Quds Force and Iran's top general
PA
33/50 2 January 2020
A keeper counts squirrel-monkeys at London Zoo during the annual stocktake. Caring for more than 500 different species, ZSL London Zoo's keepers face the challenging task of tallying up every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate at the Zoo
AP
34/50 1 January 2020
Peter Wright celebrates winning with the Sid Waddell trophy at the Darts World Championships in London. He stunned Michael van Gerwen to clinch his first title 7-3
PA
35/50 31 December 2019
Surfers at Tynemouth on the north east coast
PA
36/50 30 December 2019
Deer graze in the morning mist as cyclists ride by in Richmond Park, London
Reuters
37/50 29 December 2019
Night sky after the sunset at Whitley Bay in Northumberland
PA
38/50 28 December 2019
The Harlequins players arrive at the stadium prior to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Big Game 12 match between Harlequins and Leicester Tigers at Twickenahm Stadium
Getty Images for Harlequins
39/50 27 December 2019
A car drives through floodwater near Harbridge, north of Ringwood in Hampshire, after the river Avon burst its banks
PA
40/50 26 December 2019
Participants in the Old Surrey and West Kent Boxing Day Hunt in Chiddingstone. Hunting with horses and hounds is a Boxing Day tradition. Since the fox hunting ban in 2004, modified hunts take place using scented trails for the animals to follow
EPA
41/50 25 December 2019
Swimmers of the Serpentine Swimming Club take part in the Peter Pan Cup race, which is held every Christmas Day at the Serpentine, in central London
PA
42/50 24 December 2019
Shoppers bid for cuts of meat during a Christmas Eve auction in Smithfield market in London
EPA
43/50 23 December 2019
Reggie the dog is rescued with a boat from flooding at the Little Venice Country Park and Marina in Maidstone
AFP via Getty
44/50 22 December 2019
People gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to mark the winter solstice, and to witness the sunrise after the longest night of the year
PA
45/50 21 December 2019
Southampton's Jack Stephens scores their second goal against Aston Villa
Reuters
46/50 20 December 2019
The coffin arrives for the funeral of London Bridge terror attack victim Jack Merritt at Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge
PA
47/50 19 December 2019
Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles walk behind the Imperial State Crown as they proccess through the Royal Gallery, before the Queen's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament
AFP via Getty
48/50 18 December 2019
Luke Jerram's art installation 'Gaia', a replica of planet earth created using detailed Nasa imagery of the Earth's surface, hangs on display at the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall
PA
49/50 17 December 2019
A surfer gets into the festive spirit at the inland surfing lagoon at The Wave, near Bristol
PA
50/50 16 December 2019
Snowy conditions near Deepdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park as snow hits parts of the UK
PA
1/50 3 February 2020
Police activity inside a cordon where a man was shot by armed police in a terrorist-related incident in Streatham, London
EPA
2/50 2 February 2020
Micheal Ward with his Rising Star Award alongside Daniel Kaluuya Baftas
Reuters
3/50 1 February 2020
Activists attend an anti-Conservative government, pro-Scottish independence, and anti-Brexit demonstration outside Holyrood, the seat of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh
AFP via Getty
4/50 31 January 2020
Pro EU supporters display a banner ' Here to Stay, Here to Fight, Migrants In, Tories Out' from Westminster bridge in front of the Houses of Parliament in London. Britain officially exits the EU on 31 January, beginning an eleven month transition period
EPA
5/50 30 January 2020
Kiko the 2-year-old British Bulldog skateboarding with his owner, Ebel Perez, from Shiremoor, North Tyneside
PA
6/50 29 January 2020
British MEP's and their assistants along with members of the political group Socialist and Democrats at a ceremony prior to the vote on the UK's withdrawal from the EU at the European Parliament in Brussels
AP
7/50 28 January 2020
Torches are lit using a flare ahead of the Up Helly Aa Viking festival. Originating in the 1880s, the festival celebrates Shetland's Norse heritage
PA
8/50 27 January 2020
England bowler Mark Wood is lifted aloft by Joe Root after taking the final wicket of South Africa to win the match and series during day four of the Fourth Test at Wanderers in Johannesburg
Getty
9/50 26 January 2020
Performers taking part in a parade involving costumes, lion dances and floats, during Chinese New Year celebrations in central London, which marks the Year of the Rat
PA
10/50 25 January 2020
A couple walks along the Basingstoke canal near to Dogmersfield in Hampshire
PA
11/50 24 January 2020
Boris Johnson gestures as he watches a performance during celebrations for Chinese Lunar New Year at Downing Street in London
Reuters
12/50 23 January 2020
Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe stands next to her father Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his mother Barbara, as they address the media in Downing Street following a meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson
PA
13/50 22 January 2020
Rosa Connolly takes a close look during a preview of the Tyrannosaurs exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
PA
14/50 21 January 2020
The sun sets behind tower cranes and the London skyline in the city financial district
PA
15/50 20 January 2020
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, speaks with Prime Minister Boris Johnson as they attend the UK-Africa Investment Summit at the Intercontinental Hotel in London. Johnson is hosting African leaders and senior government representatives along with British and African businesses during the UK-Africa Investment Summit, aimed at strengthening the UKs economic partnership with African nations
Getty
16/50 19 January 2020
Joe Root celebrates with his England team mates after taking the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen during day four of the third Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth. He took a career-best four wickets during the day's play, which saw the home side follow on in their second innings. They trail England by 188 runs going into day five
Getty
17/50 18 January 2020
Drag queens pose on the pink carpet as they participate in the "Queen's Walk" during RuPaul's DragCon UK at Kensington Olympia
AFP via Getty
18/50 17 January 2020
Kitty Ross, curator of social history, is pictured reflected in a display cabinet while holding a skeleton violin from the 1880s that forms part of the Sounds of our City exhibition at the Abbey House Museum in Leeds
PA
19/50 16 January 2020
Britain's Harry, Duke of Sussex (C), hosts the Rugby League World Cup 2021 draw in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, 16 Ja​nuary 2020. The Duke, who is expected to step back from senior Royal duties, spoke with Ruby League ambassadors and children from St Vincent de Paul Catholic Primary School in London
EPA
20/50 15 January 2020
Vehicles negotiate the flooded B4069 road at Christian Malford in Wiltshire after the river Avon burst its banks
PA
21/50 14 January 2020
Huge waves hit the sea wall in Porthcawl, Wales, as gales of up to 80mph from Storm Brendan caused disruption around the UK
PA
22/50 13 January 2020
Puppeteers from Vision Mechanic rehearsing with Scotland's largest puppet, a ten-metre tall sea goddess called Storm, in the grounds of the Museum of Flight, East Lothian. Made entirely from recycled materials, it was unveiled ahead of its debut at the Celtic Connections Costal Day celebrations in Glasgow this weekend
PA
23/50 12 January 2020
A windsurfer jumps in the air after hitting a wave in the sea off of West Wittering beach in West Sussex
PA
24/50 11 January 2020
Mikuru Suzuki celebrates winning the women's championship of the BDO World Professional Darts Championships 2020 in London
PA
25/50 10 January 2020
One of seven new lion cubs at the West Midlands Safari Park in Kidderminster
PA
26/50 9 January 2020
Rawson Robinson, from Nenthead, on the Cumbria and Northumberland border clears snow from the model village he has built in his garden
PA
27/50 8 January 2020
People read messages written on the David Bowie mural in Brixton, south London, on what would have been the singer's 73rd birthday
PA
28/50 7 January 2020
England's Stuart Broad celebrates with teammate Ben Stokes after the dismissal of South Africa's Rassie van der Dussen during the fifth day of the second Test cricket match in Cape Town. Stokes claimed the last three wickets in the space of 14 deliveries to wrap up a 189-run win
AFP via Getty
29/50 6 January 2020
Protesters in London take part in a demonstration in support of a British woman found guilty of lying about being gang raped in Cyprus
AP
30/50 5 January 2020
Protesters demonstrate outside the US Embassy in London, after America killed Iran's general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad's international airport
PA
31/50 4 January 2020
Metropolitan police cordon off Charteris Road close to the junction with Lennox Road in Finsbury Park in north London, after a man was stabbed to death on Friday evening, the first murder in London in 2020
PA
32/50 3 January 2020
Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London after the US killed General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad's international airport. Soleimani was head of Tehran's elite Quds Force and Iran's top general
PA
33/50 2 January 2020
A keeper counts squirrel-monkeys at London Zoo during the annual stocktake. Caring for more than 500 different species, ZSL London Zoo's keepers face the challenging task of tallying up every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate at the Zoo
AP
34/50 1 January 2020
Peter Wright celebrates winning with the Sid Waddell trophy at the Darts World Championships in London. He stunned Michael van Gerwen to clinch his first title 7-3
PA
35/50 31 December 2019
Surfers at Tynemouth on the north east coast
PA
36/50 30 December 2019
Deer graze in the morning mist as cyclists ride by in Richmond Park, London
Reuters
37/50 29 December 2019
Night sky after the sunset at Whitley Bay in Northumberland
PA
38/50 28 December 2019
The Harlequins players arrive at the stadium prior to the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Big Game 12 match between Harlequins and Leicester Tigers at Twickenahm Stadium
Getty Images for Harlequins
39/50 27 December 2019
A car drives through floodwater near Harbridge, north of Ringwood in Hampshire, after the river Avon burst its banks
PA
40/50 26 December 2019
Participants in the Old Surrey and West Kent Boxing Day Hunt in Chiddingstone. Hunting with horses and hounds is a Boxing Day tradition. Since the fox hunting ban in 2004, modified hunts take place using scented trails for the animals to follow
EPA
41/50 25 December 2019
Swimmers of the Serpentine Swimming Club take part in the Peter Pan Cup race, which is held every Christmas Day at the Serpentine, in central London
PA
42/50 24 December 2019
Shoppers bid for cuts of meat during a Christmas Eve auction in Smithfield market in London
EPA
43/50 23 December 2019
Reggie the dog is rescued with a boat from flooding at the Little Venice Country Park and Marina in Maidstone
AFP via Getty
44/50 22 December 2019
People gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire to mark the winter solstice, and to witness the sunrise after the longest night of the year
PA
45/50 21 December 2019
Southampton's Jack Stephens scores their second goal against Aston Villa
Reuters
46/50 20 December 2019
The coffin arrives for the funeral of London Bridge terror attack victim Jack Merritt at Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge
PA
47/50 19 December 2019
Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles walk behind the Imperial State Crown as they proccess through the Royal Gallery, before the Queen's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament
AFP via Getty
48/50 18 December 2019
Luke Jerram's art installation 'Gaia', a replica of planet earth created using detailed Nasa imagery of the Earth's surface, hangs on display at the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall
PA
49/50 17 December 2019
A surfer gets into the festive spirit at the inland surfing lagoon at The Wave, near Bristol
PA
50/50 16 December 2019
Snowy conditions near Deepdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park as snow hits parts of the UK
PA
The most common approach is to sneer that people who oppose HS2 simply don’t understand, as it’s not about speed, but capacity. But the new HS2 tracks would provide a handful of point to point intercity journeys, the preserve of the business elite, and I believe would deliver capacity where it is needed least at the greatest cost, decades into the future and will do nothing to alleviate the vast majority of crush-hour squalor.
Proponents now claim the big point is that HS2 “frees up capacity” on existing lines, meaning more services could run on them, even though it is still not known what speed “classic-compatible” HS2 trains would run on existing tracks.
But adding new services by “freeing up capacity” is incompatible with the HS2 business case which specifically expects a net cut of £11.1bn to existing rail services, double the “cost savings” proposed back in 2010 when HS2 Ltd were honest enough to admit exactly which towns and cities would lose trains.
Whether it is actually possible to implement these cuts or “free up huge swathes of capacity” as some would have it, is by no means certain. Current inter-city services serve places that HS2 never would. Former British Rail director Chris Stokes recently demonstrated that HS2 would deliver “pretty much zero” extra capacity to Leeds or Manchester in the morning peak, as those trains arriving from the capital aren’t carrying masses of passengers who got on in London at daybreak, but people from Doncaster and Wakefield or Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Crewe and Wilmslow.
Now we are told that removing express trains could normalise train speeds on existing tracks, meaning even more capacity to take lorries off the road for freight. This is overly simplistic. In my view this could only work if you abandon the “second-tier” inter-city towns and cities bypassed by HS2 and slow down the remaining passenger trains on the current network.
The high-speed services that HS2 would partially replace run at 125mph, but “semi-fast” commuter services aren’t far behind running around 100mph, with some getting up to 110mph. With most UK freight trains limited to around 50 to 60mph, what is being suggested here is akin to the misery that would be achieved elsewhere by allowing lorries into the fast lane of motorways.
No one wants to mention the billions that would have to be found to run any new services, remembering you’d have to reverse £11bn of planned cuts just to stand still, and the official figures are based on the concept that HS2 will deliver on what in my view are grossly inflated passenger forecasts used to justify its construction and magically run at a profit, as opposed to the inevitable reality that it will suck up more subsidy into private hands.
This is why HS2 supporters carefully say it “could deliver more capacity” on the existing network, not that it “will deliver more trains”. As with so many things when it comes to HS2, that is an uncosted and unbudgeted extra. And all this is before you consider that every claim HS2 make about capacity is based on them running 18 trains per hour each way. There are examples to suggest this could be theoretically possible, but nowhere in the world gets close to it at the proposed speeds.
But there is no other way of increasing capacity, “the tracks are full”, HS2 proponents insist.
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The West Coast Mainline being full is another idea that I don’t think tallies with reality. Twice since we were first told that line was “full”, timetable changes have added more services. Virgin recently issued plans to run open-access services to Liverpool on those supposedly-full tracks. It’s also amazing how many self-declared “rail experts” forget that the far-less-sexy in-cab signalling or “digital railway” as it is now called could deliver an estimated 20 per cent more capacity throughout the entire rail network with no environmental damage whatsoever.
Unfortunately the digital railway just doesn’t cost enough to generate armies of vested interest lobbyists, but it will have to happen eventually and unlike HS2 is the truly green solution. Even HS2 Ltd admit their project will increase carbon emissions. Those who claim HS2 might help reduce aviation have clearly not spotted that Birmingham, East Midlands, Leeds/Bradford and Manchester airports are all lobbying for HS2 to be built.
It should be blatantly obvious that moving more and more people greater distances for work is unsustainable and incompatible with the acceptance of a climate emergency, and like when the railways were born, technology is fundamentally changing the way we work forever.
Building HS2 now is simply standing on the wrong side of history, backing a 19th-century solution for a 21st-century world.
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