Why everyone and especially Greens should still support HS2 [New Statesman]





Date: 31/10/2020

I sometimes feel like branding plays a larger role in politics than we often give it credit for. Most people - normal people, I mean, not the sort of people who write things like this or, quite frankly, read them - have neither time nor inclination to pay any attention to nerdy, wonkish matters of what policy actually does. ... I cant quite shake the idea that one of the big mistakes made by the people who came up with the UKs proposed new rail link was the name. High Speed 2, after all, implies that the fundamental purpose of the line is faster trains and shorter journey times, and - underrated city though Birmingham undoubtedly is - knocking 33 minutes off train times from there to London does indeed seem like a flimsy reason to spend £80bn on a new train set. The real argument for HS2 isnt about speed at all, but about the number of people we can fit onto Britains rail network. The new line, construction of which started in September, will increase the capacity of the network in two different ways.


External links

Why everyone “ and especially Greens “ should still support HS2

New Statesman

I sometimes feel like branding plays a larger role in politics than we often give it credit for. Most people “ normal people, I mean, not the sort of people who write things like this or, quite frankly, read them “ have neither time nor inclination to pay any attention to nerdy, wonkish matters of what policy actually does. So when they hear that, say, a politician favours building on the green belt, they imagine a heartless monster, intent on replacing picturesque rolling hills with miles and miles of concrete: the fact the green belt is very often not actually green is extremely unlikely to occur to them. In the same way, the idea that the Conservatives are the party of economic prosperity bafflingly continues to persist, despite the many and varied things this government has done to damage growth. For this reason, I cant quite shake the idea that one of the big mistakes made by the people who came up with the UKs proposed new rail link was the name. High Speed 2, after all, implies that the fundamental purpose of the line is faster trains and shorter journey times, and “ underrated city though Birmingham undoubtedly is “ knocking 33 minutes off train times from there to London does indeed seem like a flimsy reason to spend £80bn on a new train set. The real argument for HS2 isnt about speed at all, but about the number of people we can fit onto Britains rail network. The new line, construction of which started in September, will increase the capacity of the network in two different ways. Firstly, the main intercity routes between London and points north are painfully full, in terms of both trains on the line and passengers on each train. Since Britain's rail network uses ticket prices to manage demand, that means theyre painfully expensive to travel on, too. The reason why building a new mainline will help address this should be pretty obvious. [See also: Britain's railways and the common good] The other capacity argument is slightly more subtle. As things stand, on large chunks of the rail network “ not least the Birmingham suburbs “ local trains share tracks with intercity ones. This limits the number of trains you can run without a fast one running into the back of a slower one, and since the fast ones command higher ticket prices they tend to take priority. HS2 will give the faster trains their own tracks: as a result, even though its a long distance route, itll make it possible to run more local trains into the centre of Birmingham and other cities, too. Despite the current pandemic-led collapse in commuting, that will almost certainly come in handy again in the medium term. (Actually, theres a third argument related to capacity, which for reasons Ive never quite understood even the projects supporters seem to steer clear of. As things stand a signal failure in, say, Watford can effectively cut the capital off from Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and large chunks of the rest of the country. This literally happened on the last Wednesday of September 2018, when a large part of the Westminster bubble was trying to make its way back from the Labour conference in Liverpool. This seems to me a silly way to run a country, and a strong case in itself for building an alternative, but anyway.) You can see why the powers that be settled on this name: high speed sounds cool and futuristic, in exactly the way that if we don't do this the rail network will break doesnt. But it nonetheless means that much of the commentary criticising HS2 is wrongheaded because its aiming at the wrong target: shaving a few minutes off long distance journeys was never really the point. The capacity argument means that building HS2 is also the key to a greener transport policy “ though you wouldnt necessarily know it from how it's been discussed in some quarters. The Green Party has been campaigning vociferously against the new rail link, describing it as an act of ecocide because the route will pass through some ancient woodlands. In mid-October, the partys co-leader, Jonathan Bartley, dismissed a Twitter poll showing higher than expected support for the project as the usual trainspotters. We can leave aside questions of whether Twitter polls are worth engaging with or whether insulting voters is a great look for a party leader, since both have pretty obvious answers. Instead, lets focus on the fact the whole argument is cynical nonsense. HS2 will destroy some ancient woodland, its true: but that happens with pretty much every transport project, because such sites are scattered across the country like confetti; and at 58 hectares the amount of woodland under threat is similar to the 54 hectares that will be wiped out by the Lower Thames Crossing, a single, 14-mile road link planned for Essex and Kent, which nobody seems half so het up about. Whats more, HS2 isnt an alternative to the investment in local rail that the party claims to want, but a necessary precursor to it. Not building HS2 wont magically free up £80bn to invest in other transport projects, since government spending doesnt work that way. But it will mean less space for local trains, less space for freight trains, and more journeys taken by road instead of rail. So: building HS2 is the greener option. Yet the Green Party opposes it, because it will mean bulldozing some trees, even though not building it will almost certainly lead to more roads and bulldozing far more. I also sometimes wonder what the point of a small party is if it's not going to fight for unpopular but necessary policies. HS2 isn't the only thing in politics right now with a misleading name. [See also: The great British train wreck]

Related news items

Tags: x HS2

DateItem
23/10/2020HS2: Moving ancient woodland habitat for rail line flawed, ecologists say [BBC News]
20/10/2020Former tree of the year felled in Warwickshire to make way for HS2 [The Guardian]
20/10/2020Veteran pear tree will live on in new woodland created by HS2 [HS2]
16/10/2020Hope for train jobs in South Lanarkshire could hit the buffers [Carluke Gazette]
13/10/2020Cost of HS2 high-speed rail line rises by 800m [The Guardian]
12/10/2020Safe storage for Stephenson statue during Eustons HS2 transformation [Network Rail]
09/10/2020HS2 awards contract for first two London tunnelling machines [HS2]
08/10/2020On Clean Air Day 2020, HS2 announces ambitious plans to raise the bar on air quality across the project [HS2]
08/10/2020High-speed train 'stabling' facility proposed near Gretna [BBC News]
08/10/2020Carlisle could be on the HS2 map [News and Star]
07/10/2020HS2s journey north accelerates as public consultation opens [HS2]
29/09/2020History of Birminghams Peaky Blinders to feature in new BBC documentary [HS2]
25/09/2020Industry body backs calls for Borders railway invest to speed up journey times and increase freight trade [insider]
22/09/2020New footage of the discovery of the remains of Captain Matthew Flinders to be shown in BBC documentary [HS2]
15/09/2020HS2 tunnel segment factory building complete [Rail Engineer]
11/09/2020GB Railfreight and Rail Stone Solutions win two major HS2 contracts [GB Railfreight]
09/09/2020HS2's archaeological dig to be showcased in BBC documentary [HS2]
08/09/2020A level crossing: should Scotland be on the HS2 railway line? [Railway Technology]
04/09/2020HS2: construction of £106bn high-speed rail line officially starts [The Guardian]
04/09/2020HS2 heralds formal start of construction as a 22,000 jobs boost for Britain [HS2]
02/09/2020First HS2 construction train to Washwood Heath [RAIL]
17/08/2020Tree of the week: the beloved 250-year-old wild pear being cut down for HS2 [The Guardian]
17/08/2020UK universities and HS2 Ltd finalise research partnership [Railway Gazette]
11/08/2020Giant tunnelling machines for HS2 unveiled [BBC News]
11/08/2020Extending HS2 to Scotland identified as starting point for rail decarbonisation [New Civil Engineer]
31/07/2020HS2 Chiltern tunnel headwall ready for tunnel boring machines [Rail Engineer]
06/07/2020HS2 opens procurement competition for signalling and slab track [Rail Engineer]
13/06/2020Rise in injunctions against HS2 protesters [The Guardian]
12/06/2020New HS2 report hailed as boost for case for Borders Railway extension [Southern Reporter]
10/06/2020Call for HS2 to run to Scotland and cut London rail journey time to three hours [Scotsman]
20/05/2020HS2s Old Oak Common station receives planning approval [Rail Engineer]
24/04/2020Confident and contemporary Curzon Street HS2 station approved [Railway Gazette]
23/04/2020First HS2 station approved: Grimshaw's Curzon Street plans waved though [Architects Journal]
15/04/2020Construction on HS2 can begin, government says [The Guardian]
10/03/2020HS2 work has unearthed an old Robert Stephenson-designed railway turntable [BBC News]
09/03/2020Birmingham HS2 Interchange build begins [RAIL]
04/03/2020Stunning new HS2 railway station with huge platforms unveiled for Solihull [Birmingham Live]
24/02/2020HS2 train order decision delayed [RAIL]
15/02/2020HS2: UK in talks with China over construction of high-speed line [BBC News]
13/02/2020Is HS2 rail link being built in wrong direction? Bill Jamieson [Scotsman]
11/02/2020HS2 go-ahead 'controversial and difficult' [BBC News]
02/02/2020Will HS2 really help cut the UK's carbon footprint? [The Guardian]
24/01/2020New fears over where HS2 is going [ITV News]
21/01/2020Grimshaw reveals revised designs for new Birmingham HS2 station [Architects Journal]
20/01/2020HS2: route, cost, speed, benefits and issues around the high-speed railway explained [iNews]
15/01/2020HS2 supporters fear Boris Johnson plans to scrap part of rail project [The Guardian]
07/11/2019'Infrastructure in years, not decades' urges TfN chief [RAIL]
17/10/2019Final voyage of explorer who named Australia as excavated remains to return home [ITV News]
11/10/2019Scottish high-speed rail could mean Edinburgh to Newcastle in 45 minutes Alastair Dalton [Scotsman]
03/09/2019HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail vital for growth [RAIL]
03/09/2019HS2 to be delayed by up to five years as cost spirals to £88bn [The Guardian]
21/08/2019HS2: Review to examine costs and benefits of rail project [BBC News]
21/08/2019HS2: how far has work got, and why might it be scrapped? [The Guardian]
30/07/2019Tunnel vision: does HS2s Y-shaped plan really work for the North? [Railway Technology]
27/07/2019Boris Johnson backs high-speed Leeds to Manchester rail route [BBC News]
23/07/2019Old Oak Common sheds demolished [RAIL]
11/06/2019The 5 bidders for HS2 train order reveal their designs [Rail Engineer]
06/06/2019First pictures of high speed HS2 train designs revealed [Metro]
16/05/2019Limit HS2 speeds and move terminus to cut costs, say Lords [The Guardian]
18/04/2019If TfL couldn't make Crossrail run on time, what hope for the HS2 project? | Phillip Inman [The Guardian]
27/03/2019£56bn HS2 rail project under fire for using taxpayers' money to hire two consultancy firms [Daily Mail]
19/02/2019Birmingham: Washwood Heath train factory demolished [Rail Engineer]
10/02/2019Mounting Cabinet revolt threatens to sink the HS2 rail link [Daily Mail]
07/02/2019Single HS2 station to cost £1Billion as campaigners say the project is 'falling apart' [Daily Mail]
25/01/2019Matthew Flinders: Australia explorer's remains found in HS2 dig [BBC]
13/01/2019HS2 may run fewer, slower trains to stay on budget and schedule [The Guardian]
20/12/2018Britain's most endangered bird the Willow tit will be driven to the brink of extinction by HS2 [Daily Mail]
05/12/2018Sir Terry Morgan resigns from HS2 and Crossrail roles [ITV News]
30/11/2018HS2 rail chief Terry Morgan faces sack over spiralling costs [The Guardian]
26/10/2018Controversial HS2 burial site dig at London Euston begins [BBC News]
10/10/2018Talgo shortlists UK factory sites [Railway Gazette]
04/07/2018HS2 trains could be built in UK as Bombardier and Hitachi plan joint bid [ITV News]
28/06/2018Chinese rail companies in front to run HS2 trains as British Virgin Trains and First Group struggle [Daily Mail]
09/05/2018HS2 project delayed after Aberdeen letter blunder [Press and Journal]
08/03/2018A new railway proposal revealed for South East England [Global Railway Review]
05/01/2018Preston railway station branded as outdated and inadequate [Lancashire Evening Post]
04/01/2018First look at CAFs new rolling stock factory in Wales [Global Rail News]
02/11/2017Five companies shortlisted to build trains for HS2 [Independent]
02/10/2017Hammond to announce 'more money' for Northern Powerhouse rail [BBC News]
24/08/2017Euston closure: no trains in or out of rail terminal over Bank Holiday weekend due to HS2 engineering works [Evening Standard]
17/07/2017HS2 reveals winners of building contracts [BBC News]
26/06/2017Plans for Midland Metro expansion presented [IRJ]
21/06/2017HS2 commitment confirmed in Queens Speech [Rail News]
10/05/2017Hitachi unveils AT400 British Bullet Train concept [Railway Gazette]
24/04/2017Virgin and Stagecoach join with SNCF on HS2 WCP franchise bid [RTM]
02/04/2017Berkeley calls for review of HS2 as predicted Phase 1 costs soar to £48bn [RTM]
23/02/2017HS2 high speed railway on track for final approval [BBC News]
20/01/2017Britain launches HS2 rolling stock procurement [IRJ]
19/11/2016How Toton Sidings became a huge railway hub - in Victorian days [Nottingham Post]
15/11/2016HS2: Ministers confirm North West and Yorkshire routes [BBC News]
05/11/2016New West Coast rail franchise to run HS2 services [BBC News]
07/10/2016French train firm unveils plans for £20m plant in north-west England [Guardian]
07/07/2016HS2 may be diverted around Sheffield, says report [Rail News]
28/06/2016HS2 has unrealistic timetable, says National Audit Office [BBC News]
14/05/2016HS2 may not even reach Manchester as Department for Transport faces having project taken out of its control [Telegraph]
10/05/2016Disruption looms as HS2 starts station work early [Times]
09/05/2016Work starts on construction of HS2 colleges [Rail News]
18/04/2016Upgrading West Coast line 'not an alternative to HS2' [Rail News]
21/03/2016Agreement on plans to look at three-hour Scotland to London rail link [BBC News]
15/03/2016HS2 denies claims that its trains are at risk of derailing at top speeds [Guardian]
12/03/2016HS2 at risk of derailing at top speeds, report finds [Telegraph]
14/01/2016SNP ditches plan for Glasgow-Edinburgh high speed bullet train [Herald]
02/12/2015Government 'not pursuing' HS1-HS2 rail link [Rail News]
29/11/2015HS2 Birmingham to Crewe link to open six years early [BBC News]
18/11/2015Devolution deal boost for Birmingham rail services [Rail News]
11/11/2015Nottingham-to-Derby tram link backed by councils [BBC News]
24/09/2015HS2: George Osborne urges China to pitch for £11.8bn contracts [BBC News]
15/09/2015Euston station HS2 plans 'should be scrapped' [BBC News]
13/08/2015Is chugging along enough after railway upgrades put on pause? [Guardian]
25/03/2015HS2: Government has no 'convincing case' for £50bn rail line [BBC News]
19/03/2015£130m tram route decision announced [Rail News]
11/11/2014'We need an underwater train to Ireland,' says think tank [BBC News]
28/10/2014What is HS3?: proposed sub-Pennine rail line explained [Guardian]
24/10/2014HS2: Phase two report proposes new station for Crewe [BBC News]
22/10/2014Britain’s railway network Transport mode of choice [GlobalRailNews]
21/07/2014Birmingham named as new HS2 headquarters [BBC News]
29/04/2014MPs reject calls for HS2 rail plans to be halted [BBC News]
15/03/2014HS2 should be seen as the future backbone of Britain's railway [Guardian]
28/02/2014Birmingham HS2 Curzon station plans unveiled [BBC News]
10/02/2014HS2 Toton station could see the relocation of up to 600 jobs [BBC News]
12/11/2013Coventry to join Metro tram network in upgrade plans [BBC News]
27/10/2013Railway line shut by Beeching 'can save us £36bn' [Mail]
06/10/2013The Borders Railway: a £350m ticket to nowhere? [Sunday Herald]
24/09/2013HS2: 12 arguments for and against [BBC News]
19/04/2013HS2 Euston station total rebuild plan scrapped [BBC]
15/03/2013HS2 ruling 'a victory' despite unlawful compensation move [BBC News]
29/01/2013Ministers braced for backlash over HS2 northern route [Telegraph]
28/01/2013HS2 announcement: 'a vital engine for growth' [Independent]
12/11/2012High-speed rail plan for Glasgow to Edinburgh line [BBC News]
29/09/2012HS2 rail line could be re-routed to Heathrow [Telegraph]
10/01/2012HS2: Phase one of high-speed rail line gets go-ahead [BBC News]
08/11/2011Scotland urged to begin work for high-speed rail link [BBC News]
27/02/2011Councils oppose high speed rail route [LocalGovUK]
07/11/2010National Trust anger over High Speed 2 [Telegraph]