HS2 and the UK’s attitude to railways

Published: 4 November, 2023 | Tags:

In this opinion piece, the Railway Gazette’s Nick Kingsley regards Rishi Sunak’s decision to abandon the remaining section of HS2 as a kick in the teeth for the industry. It is, says the commentator, “all the more staggering when one considers two of the biggest challenges Britain faces as a nation: climate change and a macroeconomic ‘productivity gap’.”

Among other good points, Mr Kingsley remarks that the move will not, as Mr Sunak proposes, result in better local services. “Far from facilitating Sunak’s ‘better transport connections in the north’, abandoning HS2’s potential for segregating long-distance inter-city services from three heavily utilised trunk lines actually removes any scope for improving or expanding regional and local passenger services across much of the conventional network. Industry insiders have calculated that the HS2 cancellation may result in a worse service for many towns and cities than today.”

Read the article. It is available to subscribers but this is well worth doing if you have an interested in the rail industry.