The Guardian view on HS2 delays: a chance to break the cycle of costly failure | Editorial
S.Ne days there will be a high -speed rail link between London and Bringham. maybe. Not soon. when Hs2 It was first proposed, the opening date for the first stage of December 2026 was planned. After multiple delays and cost excesses, a revised target for 2033 was set.
This is no longer realistic, according to Alexander. Minister of Transport Representatives said On Wednesday, two years are likely to be needed, to blame the last conservative government to manage the entire project and waste billions of pounds in this process.
The record is already bleak, and although HS2 was originally conceived in the last days of the work government, the systematic failure to achieve it occurred under the consecutive heads of conservative heads. Quoting the results of two new reviews in the plan, Mrs. Alexander highlighted the insufficient ministerial supervision as a fixed problem. Building contracts that failed to give value were signed for money, and he claimed, may have it Empowering fraud.
The cost has swamped while Renovation. Originally, there was a completely high -speed mesh, extending north from Birmingham to Crowe and branching to East Midlands. Meanwhile, the budget rose. In 2012, the first stage is expected to cost 20 billion pounds. This next contract increased to 57 billion pounds and the latest estimates are closer to 100 billion pounds. HS2 is a case study that is not why the state does not build a major infrastructure, but how to do this better.
HS2 opponents – and they had a lot from its inception – feels a warning that it was a hole of money and foolishness. These concerns are not trivial – and should not be cleaned accidentally. The infrastructure should serve the future, not a scar. This means designing and presenting projects that respect nature and people.
But the benefit of the new line is not only to make people to their destination faster, but also to free the capacity on the current road. Although there is a lot of remorse for the way HS2 has evolved so far, the issue of abortion is defective, which clearly defends the current situation. Placing tracks and drilling of tunnels is an environmentally annoying, but the railways are eventually a more sustainable way to move quantities of people around the roads. Each precedent from the date of modern transport says that the HS2 alternative is not more green pastures but more cars.
London and Birmingham are not far apart, and are not separated by the vast mountains. High -speed railways are not experimental technology in the twenty -first century. Other European countries have networks covering thousands of kilometers. It is embarrassing that the United Kingdom has only succeeded One lineFrom London to the channel tunnel, it was opened in 2007.
Mrs. Alexander is right that the last government is HS2 mismanagement, but this failure has also expressed the deeper distress as the British state to modernize. It should be moved in HS2 a turning point: embracing the green construction, controlling the most strict costs and democratic participation. If the lessons are learned, HS2 can still save and become a model – not a warning story – for general infrastructure.
