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As the UK Government announces plans to upgrade rail links in the north of England, and admits that the HS2 planning has been disastrous, our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, looks at how scepticism should be the watchword.
People are entitled to be sceptical.
Just as papers report snowbound motorways, screaming (and I hold my hands up to this) travel ‘CHAOS’ (it rarely is), politicians pledge yet AGAIN to improve the rail service in the north of England.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves declared a few weeks ago delightedly that this upgrade (there have been many such ‘announcements’) “will actually happen“, while she acknowledged the HS2 rail project had become a “byword” for disastrous planning.
The UK Government apparently has a ‘vision’ for improved links between England’s northern towns and cities, so politicians want to ‘transform’ the region, to boost the economy. Allegedly.
But let’s remind ourselves of some details, shall we?
The House of Commons (HoC) Public Accounts Committee has described HS2 as a casebook example of how not to run a major project.
It is currently tens of billions of pounds over budget and around a decade behind schedule.
Reports state that the now-shortened line between Birmingham and London could cost £81 billion.
Accounting for inflation, that would mean at least £100 billion will be spent, but only 135 miles of railway built.
Yet it seems there was advice which, perhaps, wasn’t heeded.
Andrew McNaughton, HS2’s first technical director, remembers being at a conference in 2009 and hearing the Chair of the French railway operator, Guillaume Pepy, deliver a warning.
It was: “don’t make the mistake of building yesterday’s railway”.
In other words, why bother building something that would already be out of date at the moment of completion?!
Let’s turn now to those efforts to improve rail links in the north of England because the context is disturbing, and remember that HS2 was originally planned to go to Leeds as well as Manchester.
We have been told that an initial £1.1 billion has been earmarked for preparation, and that there will be upgrades to lines between Leeds, York, Bradford and Sheffield.
A new route will supposedly be built between Liverpool and Manchester, and there will be improved connections between Manchester and cities in Yorkshire.
This “transformation” of travel will shorten commutes apparently, and encourage investment across the region, adding up to £40 billion to the economy.
Sad to say we’ve heard all this before.
A multibillion pound scheme, known as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) (politicians like grand titles), aimed to deliver faster journeys as well as more frequent trains with improved and new lines, along with upgrades to stations.
However, it has been more than a decade since such a project was first proposed, and Ms Reeves herself admitted that improvements SHOULD be felt only by the early 2030’s (are we to believe even THAT?!), while parts of the plan requiring new construction will not actually see spades in the ground until after this date.
So I say again: people are entitled to be sceptical!
Phil’s memories of his remarkable decades-long award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the extremely rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book (including some of the weird and wonderful experiences he faced) ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
