Can HS2 be given a reboot, to put Phase 2 back on track?

PHILIP HAIGH examines the National Audit Office report on HS2 costs, and considers what is required to reinstate the northern leg to Manchester

Philip Haigh

“THE government’s decision to cancel Phase 2 created uncertainties in a range of complex areas, particularly as HS2 Ltd and other rail organisations had not been involved with the decision.” So says the National Audit Office, in its most recent report into High Speed 2. As a comment on the way the previous government ran its affairs, it’s damning. Not because of the cancellation (to govern is to decide), but because it made its decision with no understanding of the consequences. It can’t have understood the consequences because it didn’t involve HS2 Ltd or Network Rail, both of which are now having to cope with the aftermath. This relates to chiefly north of Birmingham, where the NAO notes that the Department for Transport’s revised HS2 plan does not solve the…

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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1015

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