HS2
High Speed Rail Industry Leaders Group members
Atkins Alstom Bechtel CH2MHill Hitachi Keolis
Parsons Brinckerhoff Railway Industry Association Siemens
Associate members: Network Rail; UK Steel; Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education
busy sections of the network, and in rural areas. There would be increased disruption with none of the benefi ts of HS2.
Worsening standards of reliability would result as lines are used to absolutely maximum safe intensity and greater levels of overcrowding as the population, and train patronage, continues to grow. Ultimately this would produce pressure to increase fares in the peaks (to ‘manage demand’), whilst the availability of deep discounted fares on longer distance services will be reduced.
more congested roads, we would become an ineffi cient and increasingly less popular country in which to do business. Equally, London – so crucial to our wider economy and international standing – would be stifl ed, unable to expand its labour markets at affordable prices.
Crucially, however, we would lose the opportunity to regenerate the cities of the Midlands and the North and rebalance our economy. Right now, the development market in the Midlands and the North is sluggish. Investment appetites for these regions remain low and will remain so without important upgrades in infrastructure.
This is keenly recognised by the government, and, thankfully, by Sir David Higgins. In his report last month (more on page 54) he rightly and explicitly recognised the importance of highlighting the wider economic development role that HS2 has to fulfi l. Higgins has, incisively, shown how the line should be delivered to the UK, in a way which will not only help to contain costs, but to accelerate the benefi ts for the Midlands, the North and North Wales.
It is imperative that government at both local and national levels, alongside business, capitalises on the opportunity HS2 offers. Lord Deighton’s Growth Taskforce, set up in summer 2013 to advise the government on how best to maximise the benefi ts associated with HS2, aptly demonstrated in its report last month how cities can maximise these opportunities.
The report and recommendations hit the nail on the head. HS2 is more than a railway. It is an opportunity to rebalance and rejuvenate Britain like no other project, and the series of measures suggested in the report will help do just that. From skills development to urban regeneration and economic growth, HS2’s scope to benefi t and transform Britain is without precedent.
Others are beginning to take note
Without HS2, the whole rail network and its growing passenger base will suffer under increasing pressure.
Short-term solutions
will be just that, and growth in use of the rail network will start to falter.
The impacts on the wider economy
HS2 will be transformational for our economy, especially in areas across the north of England, and so it is important to also note what we risk turning our backs on if HS2 were cancelled. Confi dence in Britain’s ability to carry out big projects effectively will be lost if HS2 is stalled. With slower and less reliable rail services, and
Following the news that HS2 is to have its own Further Education College to train engineers, northern regions jumped to offer to host it. With a young population, Birmingham’s city council is one body that has realised how important the skills development and apprenticeship programme will be to the city and to the West Midlands. With 38% of its population under the age of 24, the region’s young population would be set to reap the benefi ts particularly keenly. Elsewhere, Robert Goodwill MP, in an open letter to his Yorkshire
Increasingly, the government and the rail industry are not alone in realising the line’s benefi ts. Right across the country, regions are clamouring to include themselves in the project’s development.
Abandoning the project now will mean we have to revisit the same problems and implement a similar solution at a later date and at a much higher cost. No-one can want to see this happen.
We stand fully behind HS2.
Everyone should do the same so we can press on and build one of the most exciting, ambi- tious and important pro- jects in this country since Victorian times.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The HSR Industry Leaders Group welcomes new members from across the rail sector and its supply chain. Visit:
www.rail-leaders.com which also contains a link to the full report.
rail technology magazine Apr/May 14 | 53
constituents, similarly called for the region to throw its support behind the college.
In other areas, the clamour for a station along the line has been equally vocal. Stoke-on-Trent City Council has recently put £250,000 into its campaign to host a station (pictured below).
Birmingham announced its ‘masterplan’ for the Curzon Street station (see page 148), and Manchester has examined the impact of multi- million pound investment around Piccadilly station (see page 58).
It is clear the UK is increasingly starting to appreciate how transformative HS2 can be for towns and cities along its route and beyond.
Of course, without HS2, these prospects would be absent. The regions simply cannot hope to draw investment of the same scale.
It is up to all of us to make the most of this unique opportunity. Quite clearly, it is not something the UK can afford to miss. As we’ve been keen to make clear, the benefi ts HS2 will provide do not begin and end with the transport network;
abandoning HS2 will
signal Britain’s reluctance to invest in its regions, its failure to prompt investment from elsewhere, and the loss of a once-in- a-generation opportunity to rebalance the economic geography of the UK.
Jim Steer
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