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by Lib Dem team on 5 July, 2011
There’s been much talk recently of the economic gap between the North of England and South, and indeed also of Scotland which some say gets more than its fair share.
Some will want to paint this as a political problem – that their party of choice would be/is sorting it all out and the other party has let down the North. I disagree with that. The evidence is that a lot has been tried to reduce the North/South divide by a whole series of politicians, including pumping vast sums of money into certain areas, and it just hasn’t worked – that divide still exists and doesn’t seem to be shrinking.
Step in High Speed 2, first promoted by the previous Labour government, and now being fully supported by the Coalition. The first stage will shorten journey times between London and Birmingham, with the second stage going on to Leeds and Manchester.
High Speed 2 is about much more than shorter journey times. It is, some say, our best hope of closing the North/South divide and, as such, worth every penny of the billions it will cost in the prosperity it will bring to the regional cities.
But is it?
The argument for HS2 is it brings our regional cities closer to London, and effectively spreads London’s prosperity out across the country. That regional office in Manchester suddenly isn’t somewhere out of the way, it becomes little further than Croydon or Reading. Supporters say that the case has been proved in France and Spain where their High Speed railways have done exactly that and the regional towns and cities have reaped the rewards.
On the other side, there are two concerns.
One is simply the cost. Tens of billions to construct HS2 over two decades or more: what else could be done with that money? How much of a difference could you make to regional railways (the services linking Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield, for example). Or perhaps enhance the road network.
Another is perhaps a bit of regional pride. We want to think that Greater Manchester can stand on its own, that it doesn’t need to become some sort of extended London commuter town to achieve prosperity. In some ways that’s certainly true – Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and the other towns and cities have their own vibrant industries and centres of excellence. But overall the figures do seem to tell a different story.
HS2 has lots of problems and challenges – it would be bizarre if a project of that scale didn’t. I can certainly understand why many people are opposed to it and, to be honest, I’m still undecided. But if the evidence from other countries shows that it works – that it can achieve what pouring billions into the regions over recent decades has failed to do despite the best intentions of those involved – then it may be the way to go.
7 Comments
The other (oft overlooked) advantage to HS2 is the potential for real cost competition for passengers.
Do you need to get to London quickly for business? Use HS2.
Are you a lesure traveller and don’t really care about speed? Then use the existing services.
On top of that the route between London and Manchester is becoming more and more congested (certain trains are standing room only – or sitting on the floor room only) adding HS2 will move some passengers onto the alternative and spread out the customers.
The other benefit could be the increased amount of freight that can be allowed onto the network getting long haul trucks off the road but *shock horror* that would require a coordinated transport policy…
NO to HS2… from an anorak !
Why the rush ? Calm down and carry on !
The higher speeds could be achieved without this appalling gross waste of taxpayers money called HS2. What’s needed is relatively inexpensive improvements to the signalling systems on our existing railway routes, which would make our railways safer and vastly more efficient. The necessary technology been available for many years. That’s not “sexy” enough though. HS2 is seen by our politicians as a marquee project that will generate positive publicity and has the potential to ensure their re-election. Unfortunately, for as long as I can remember, successive governments of all persuasion have failed to invest sensibly in our railways – and indeed all public transport. Sadly, it’s not seen as a vote-winner.
I’d also point out that the current times for rail journeys are deliberately set very slackly, in order that the operators seldom have to pay fines for failing to keep to the timetable. This why the arrival and departure times for intermediate stops are unreliable, as exposed in a recent TV programme.
The last time we stayed in London we stepped out of our hotel in Euston and walked up to the station in time for boarding to commence for the 1230 train, we walked into our house at 1500. I don’t believe we could have done that quicker by crossing London, getting the Paddington HS link, waiting around Heathrow for an hour, flying, circling, landing, taxi home, etc. I am a big train fan but the justification for HS trains in France and Spain are based on the large distances. We don’t have that here. What we do have is unreliable trains, usually over crowded in 2nd / empty in 1st, and an impenetrable fare structure.
Save the money buy more rolling stock and simplify the fares – oh and nationalise it.
Alan
Firstly HS2 will go from a rebuilt Euston station not Paddington and secondly even with improved sig slung the fastest speed that could be eeked out of the WCML (west coast main line) is 140mph anything above that and significant reallignment would have to be carried out also it is predicted that spare capacity on the WCML will be gone by 2026 with demand set to rise beyond that time HS2 makes sence.
Does anyone have an idea of how the proposed second phase of the high speed line would connect to Manchester. Is this likely to impact Gatley?
Hi Daniel,
The current planning work is all about London to Birmingham and, apart from very general plans, there are no designs yet for how the line might come into Manchester.
It is possible that it could go near to Gatley, but there are many other possible routes as well and as actually having a line here is over 20 years away we’ll await developments with baited breath.