There have been huge question marks over the costs and benefits of the proposed high-speed rail link, which is supposed to link the North and the South (well if you class Birmingham as the North anyway), and now the latest shot across its boughs has come from the HS2 chairman Allan Cook who has reportedly warned the project will exceed its £56bn budget. No final figures are available which is not surprising given the magnitude of the project, but a “potential £30bn overspend” has been bandied around – an eye-watering 53% increase!
HS2 becoming an expensive white elephant?
Image:sevenMaps7/Shutterstock
Now given that the project was deemed by many to be marginal on a cost/benefit basis to the economy, and the increasing availability of remote working which will soon be boosted by the 5g roll out, serious questions will need to be asked such as what real economic boost will knocking 35 minutes off the time from Crewe to London actually generate. Given the crumbling nature of the more localised rain network in the south-east commuter belt and the appalling service experienced in the actual north could the money not be more beneficially spent improving these rather than what increasingly looks like a vanity project?
