‘This project has always been the wrong way round’: Readers split on future of HS2 – UK Times

The fate of HS2 has become one of the most contentious infrastructure debates in Britain.

With costs now exceeding £66 billion, opening dates pushed well beyond 2033, and fresh allegations of fraud emerging, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed an indefinite delay last week.

As reviews into the troubled high-speed rail project near completion, many are asking whether anything can still be salvaged.

In a poll of Independent readers, 37 per cent said HS2 should be abandoned entirely, 33 per cent wanted it completed in full, 11 per cent supported limiting it to London-Birmingham, and 19 per cent called for it to be replaced with a more modern, integrated transport plan.

When we asked for your views, some readers criticised HS2 as a bloated vanity project plagued by poor planning, legal delays and a lack of accountability.

Others argued that its failure reflects a broader national inability to deliver large-scale infrastructure efficiently.

Many favoured redirecting funds to improve the existing rail network or invest in emerging technologies like self-driving electric vehicles.

But some insisted the full route should be built to avoid wasting sunk costs and deliver long-term economic benefits, particularly in the North.

Here’s what you had to say:

The economic justification for HS2 vanished

The economic justification for HS2 was always questionable, and it vanished altogether as costs continued to balloon. This was a project driven by politicians who just liked the idea, and everyone involved convinced themselves that it could be made viable.

There is also the fact that we don’t really need high-speed rail over distances of 100 and 200 miles. The time saved is negligible, and there are too many possible routes. It’s not like Paris to Marseilles or Madrid to Barcelona.

chrisw27

A £100 million bat house

We need to stop over-specifying these things, then altering the plan every five minutes, allowing contractors to mug us for substantial variations. France is up to about HS17 or 18, as are most EU countries, while the only one we have managed to finally deliver (HS1) is largely an Anglo-French project to make Eurostar work across just one county. Paris-Bordeaux cost £8 billion, was opened on time, and halved journey times from four hours to two hours on a 600km route. Bordeaux-Toulouse will open in 2032 (for £7 billion) and cover 222km in one hour. First-class fares on the French system for these routes are £15–30. This is the sort of rail system we deserve. The problems lie with government, planners, contractors and NIMBYs. But we have managed to build a £100 million bat house.

SteveHill

This project has always been the wrong way round

This project has always been the wrong way round. I live in the South East, but it is the linking of the northern cities and a trans-Pennine service that has been the most urgent requirement. It would have also been far less expensive and far less controversial to have begun north and worked south. It would also have established the degree to which shaving a few minutes off the journey between London and Birmingham was required.

MikeJW

People want reliable rail service, not elite fast trains

What people want is a smooth-running rail system, being able to get a seat at all times, and no delays. Not some elite super-fast train to satisfy a relatively few first-class passengers, costing an arm and a leg to build. The rail network is important to us and is a great way to transport lots of people around. Let’s get our priorities right and focus on improving the whole system.

EarthFirst

You’d build the other half

If you were only going to build half of HS2, you’d build the other half to the one they are building. Personally, I think the whole concept of railways is obsolete. You could instead build a motorway exclusively for use by electric, self-driving cars. To start with, you’d take a car from a station (or junction) to junction, just as you do with a train, but as self-driving technology becomes better, you could go door to door. No more running half-empty trains or waiting for ages; the cars would be available on demand. It seems obvious to me that this is the way forward for passenger transport.

Jolly Swagman

An environmental and financial disaster

It was always an environmental and financial disaster, benefiting few, when what is still needed is the electrification of the whole rail network and local transport that works for everyone.

It should never have been begun, but unlike Mastermind, just because you’ve started, it doesn’t mean you have to finish – stopping at any stage would be better than completing the project.

Leo

Giant waste of money

Gosh I wish I could read all the hundreds of comments rubbishing HS2 I wrote here, in the Guardian and on the BBC website since around 2012.

Even if completed at the planned cost and on time, HS2 would be a giant waste of money. Rail is an obsolete mode of transport. In about a decade, self-driving cars will arrive. That’s your private “train” that does not require a station or tracks, doesn’t break down or go on strike, leaves from your front door the second you tell it to, and takes you directly to the place you want to go, all in sleeper cabin comfort, while the “ticket” is about a quarter of the price of the railway ticket.

If our government had any brains, they would already be ripping up the existing tracks outside of large cities and replacing them with new motorways with charging infrastructure. Not building more at an extortionate cost.

MooreCLanes

Public contracts must include financial penalties

It’s time that government projects were controlled in the same way as private projects. In the private sector, you quote for a project. The price is fixed, and the time to complete the project – if you overrun, there are penalty clauses. These are financial clauses that have to be paid if you do not complete the project on time. This eliminates the risk to the taxpayer, which at present seems to be the prevailing situation, where companies give a quote for what they can do and when they will complete, then they overrun, the prices spiral out of control, and the taxpayer is just expected to pay this.

This is not how business is run, and it is not how public sector business should be funded. It means any company that is quoting for a government contract has an open ticket to charge the British taxpayer whatever they like. This is disgusting, and it’s time it was stopped.

Oriana

Why is everything such a big deal in the UK?

I live in Spain, and there are high-speed trains linking most of the big cities. HS2 is nothing in comparison. All across Europe, there are high-speed trains. Why is everything such a big deal in the UK? There’s a lot of resistance to change. The UK is in many ways behind the rest of Europe.

Lest

Legal delays and constant changes undermine costs

My understanding of the problem is that, unlike other countries such as France which simply get on with construction once the plan has been approved, here in the UK, we go through numerous legal challenges and alterations to planning applications that seriously undermine the cost and timescale of the project from the initial inception date.

Nigel Fromage

What matters is future return

Everyone has strong opinions on whether or not major infrastructure projects are ‘worth it’, and HS2 is no exception. All the money spent on the project to date is what’s known as “sunk cost” and (despite being an eye-watering sum) is irrelevant to the question of whether or not it is ‘worth it’ to continue. What counts now is only what it would cost to complete the next phase/phases and whether or not that would give a decent return on the investment.

MellieC

Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article here.

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