HS2 has never had the attention it needs and the scrutiny its scale demands. This is Britain’s largest infrastructure project, dwarfing the Channel Tunnel by a factor of around ten in terms of the cost and yet it has been allowed to bumble along as if it were the construction a little branch line to a Suffolk village.
Ministers come and go, civil servants stick their heads in the sand and the media gets bored with the story apart from covering protestors digging themselves under Euston or living in trees.
Now there is a brief focus on the scheme with the ‘reset’ which has been 18 months in gestation but I suspect that the project, which is costing taxpayers £7 billion every year, will again retreat back to the shadows. It shouldn’t this is a national scandal and disgrace and deserves far more attention than it gets.
This is a national scandal and disgrace and deserves far more attention than it gets
Despite having covered this story since the construction of the line was first announced in 2009, the ‘reset’ revealed this week by Heidi Alexander tests my credulity. I think it helps to set out the estimated cost in real numbers, as a ‘billion’ is still a nebulous concept. So Alexander announced the likely costs would be £102,700,000,000. Actually, my sources inside the scheme say that is a gross underestimate as it does not include the rolling stock, the depots and various other associated costs. Let’s call it £110,000,000,000.
