Hooray for common sense. What a shame we must wait until 2026
By: Web Editor
RARELY in the history of railways can opinion have been so divided. The subject is, of course, HS2 – the route of which was finally revealed by the Government in January.
As an ardent supporter of railway construction, I’m thrilled to bits that this is finally going to happen, but I’ve been surprised by the number of normally pro-rail enthusiasts who are lukewarm about it (and they don’t all live in the Chilterns either). They tell me they would rather the £32bn was spent on improving existing infrastructure across the entire network, including a further upgrade of the West Coast Main Line. Well, it’s difficult to argue against the first preference… but an upgrade of the WCML? What astonishingly short memories!
That ill-fated job set the nation back almost £10bn, was hopelessly behind schedule and caused untold misery and disruption for millions of people for the best part of a decade. And what did we get for it at the end of the day? A Victorian infrastructure railway whose trains still can’t run at more than 125mph. This at a time when the many high-speed lines of our European neighbours are whisking passengers along at close to 200mph. What a joke!
Even China, which until the late 1990s was still building steam locomotives, is opening high-speed lines faster than Britain used to build motorways!
So, delighted as I am that the line has finally been approved, I can’t help being dismayed at the projected timescales. Yes, the Government is being prudent
in waiting until Crossrail is behind it before over-committing itself and not authorising work to start in earnest until then, but, even so, the years 2019 (for the start of construction), 2026 (for the opening of Phase 1) and 2033 (opening of Phase 2) seem an eternity away. Some of us might not even be around to witness those grand events! If our Victorian ancestors had worked at such a snail’s pace, the Liverpool & Manchester line wouldn’t have opened until the middle of the ‘Railway Mania’ instead of 1830… and they only had picks and shovels to work with.
By the time Phase 1 opens, the Chinese will have by far the largest HS network on the planet. Britain – which is supposed to be one of the largest economies in the western world – will even then still have only two realtively short routes in operation.
Now who’s looking like a third-world country? That’s oneof the reasons why it was so important that the line be approved.
One of the biggest objections continues to be the need to despoil virgin tracts of the Chilterns and the consequent requirement to placate the ‘nimbies’ by increasing tunnels and cuttings to almost half the length of the route is one of the reasons why the price and timescale have inflated so horrendously – so with Justine Greening having committed millions of pounds extra to building those tunnels, let’s hope those residents who have been objecting so loudly will now shut up!
ALTHOUGH it is a relatively small order compared with the Thameslink contract it lost, the awarding of the £188m Southern ‘Electrostar’ contract to Bombardier Derby is great news for the Midlands city and its workforce – and, of course, for the British trainbuilding industry itself.
Without that, there would have been a real fear that the country that gave trainbuilding to the world would have been left with virtually nothing. Now it’s up to Bombardier to get its act together and ensure that it doesn’t let any more deals slip through its fingers.
Nick Pigott
Editor
1 Response to “Hooray for common sense. What a shame we must wait until 2026”
Comments
Please login or register to post a comment
Current Issue: June 2012
• BARROW HILL SMASHES RECORD
• FLYING SCOTSMAN 150
Celebration of a world-famous train
• CATHEDRALS OF STEAM
Rare loco shed views
• TRAIN PATH AUCTION THREATENS OPEN ACCESS
• WIMBLEDON DEPOT
Keeping SWT on the move
• MOVE TO PROTECT BRUNEL’S GWR
• FRANCHISE BID TRIO
PLUS:
• Next issue on sale: 6 June 2012
David Pooley Says:
February, 12th 2012 at 12:48 pm
I disagree completely with Nick Piggot's comments about HS2. Yes, I do live close to the route - on the outskirts of Aylesbury - and object to everyone who disagrees with the project being called a "Nimby" suggesting that we all want the new line but not near where we live. Well, a lot of us don't want it at all. I have not seen a single convincing case for it - in fact it is the people who keep telling me it's essential who have turned me more and more against the project. Examples:
1. Reducing the journey time between London and Birmingham by 40 minutes will somehow transform Birmingham and increase business opportunities - no, I can't see how that's going to work.
2. We need to have as much high speed rail as China - compare the size of the two countries!
3. Trains are much faster in the rest of Europe than in the UK - not true. Away from specially built high speed lines inter city journeys in mainland Europe are often not particularly fast and certainly slower than the UK's fastest routes such as the East Coast and West Coast main lines.
In a relatively small country I would have though that 125mph is fast enough for most people's needs. It does seem ironic that the new line passes very close to Aylesbury (not in a tunnel Mr. Piggot so, no, I won't shut up) from where it takes one hour to travel to London - exactly the same time it took when the original DMUs were introduced 50 years ago.
Whilst there are aspects of Britain's railways that need improving - the ludicrously baffling and inconsistent fares system and the inadequate length of many trains come to mind - I have found that train services in this country are generally more frequent and reliable than in years gone by and compare well with the rest of Europe.
HS2 is, in my opinion, totally unnecessary.