HS2 high-speed rail project gets green light

Justine Greening has given the go ahead for the rail link from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, on 10th January. It will cost at least £32bn. This is the first phase of the route on which high-speed trains will start running in 2026 and this first phase should be only the foundation of a future network. Opponents question the huge expenditure for time savings of just half an hour between London and Birmingham. Between 2026 and 2032 other northern cities (Manchester, Leeds)  will get their high speed links from the Y shaped network. There will be huge opposition and anger in constituencies through which HS2 would pass, which will face the prospect of years of construction for no direct local benefit.  The cost is likely to be well over £1,000 per household, many of whom will never use the line.  It is unlikely to cut carbon emissions, as any flights saved will be cancelled out by more high speed (high carbon) rail trips. Legislation to enable the building of HS2 would go through Parliament in 2013.



HS2 high-speed rail project gets green light

Transport secretary announces extra tunnelling for sections of London-Birmingham route in attempt to appease opponents

 and 

guardian.co.uk

Business backs high-speed rail link

The Birmingham and Fazeley viaduct, part of the new proposed route for the HS2 high-speed rail scheme. Photograph: HS2/PA

The government has given the green light to a new £32.7bn high-speed rail network and announced new stretches of tunnelling to placate opponents of the scheme.

The decision ends months of speculation. The first phase of the network, between London and Birmingham, due to come into operation in 2026, will cut journey times by more than 30 minutes.

The transport secretary, Justine Greening, announced a series of tweaks to the route from London to Birmingham, intended to appease campaigners from the Tory heartlands. About 22.5 miles of the amended route is underground, an increase of 50% on the original plan.

A longer, continuous tunnel running north of Amersham will lessen the impact on the Chilterns countryside, which could help head off any possible revolt from MPs.

A 2.75-mile tunnel along the Northolt corridor in Ruislip will minimise effects for commuters on the Chilterns line, a concession thought to have been demanded by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.  In the second phase of work a spur to Heathrow airport will be built from the new west London transport hub at Old Oak Common.

[Another source:  The government also announced plans to link London’s Heathrow Airport to continental Europe via Britain’s current high speed rail line HS1 which connects the capital to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel.  The HS2 line from London to Birmingham and its connection to HS1 are expected to open in 2026, followed in 2032-33 by high speed links to Manchester, Leeds and Heathrow.  link ]

A future link from the London-Birmingham line to Britain’s first high-speed line running to the Channel tunnel offers the prospect of journeys between Paris and Manchester in three-and-a-half hours, once the second phase of work is completed in 2032.

Greening said the public consultation on the route received nearly 55,000 responses. A consultation on the Y-shaped network’s exact route north of Birmingham, to Manchester and Leeds, will be launched in early 2014 for a final ministerial decision on the route in late 2014.

Opponents of the project have questioned the huge expenditure for the sake of time savings of half an hour between London and Birmingham, but the government has stressed that early beneficiaries of the scheme will be places off or beyond the HS2 route.

Some high-speed trains – although not the double-deckers mooted at the weekend by Greening – would continue onward on existing track to destinations on the west side of the country. Liverpool, Glasgow and Preston will be the first to benefit from these through-running services from 2026, travelling the first stage from London to the West Midlands at more than 200mph.

The second phase will also cut journey times from Birmingham to Leeds – and beyond to Durham and Newcastle – by almost an hour.

A Department for Transport source said: “HS2 is not just about getting between London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester more quickly, but bringing faster services and many more seats to towns and cities well beyond the HS2 network.

“It would work just like a motorway. No one uses a motorway to get all the way from their front door to their final destination, but they use it because it offers high capacity and faster services – precisely what HS2 will offer rail passengers.”

Numerous business leaders, unions and some economists have recently come out in favour of the scheme, although others describe the government’s economic case as seriously flawed. Environmental groups have expressed loud concerns.

The benefits of faster links may be clearer for towns and cities in the north, but the government will have to contend with anger in its heartlands in southern constituencies, which will face the prospect of years of construction for no direct local benefit.

Train companies welcomed the announcement. Michael Roberts, the chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: “HS2 is a vote of confidence in the railways and recognition of the vital role the industry has to play in supporting jobs and driving sustainable economic growth.

“HS2 would help to alleviate the capacity crunch on many of our major rail corridors and offer the prospect of shorter journey times between London and other major English cities.”

Manuel Cortes, leader of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union, said: “This £32bn project will help end the north-south economic divide which has blighted the country for so long, as well as create tens of thousands of new jobs over the next 15 years.

“The development of the railways in the 19th century was the backbone of the Industrial Revolution. Let us hope HS2 will provide the catalyst that sparks a manufacturing revival in the Midlands and the north of England in the 21st century.”

But Stop HS2’s campaign co-ordinator, Joe Rukin, claimed the route was simply the “wrong priority” for the country.

Rukin, from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, said: “There is no business case, no environmental case and there is no money to pay for it.

“It’s a white elephant of monumental proportions and you could deliver more benefits to more people more quickly for less money by investing in the current rail infrastructure.”

Jerry Marshall, chairman of Agahst (Action Groups Against High Speed Two), said: “Justine Greening has said that she would make a rational decision on HS2 and she clearly has not. If she had taken a cold, hard look at HS2, she would see that it is a disaster waiting to happen.

“HS2 will cost every household in Britain £1,700 and, based on government figures, will never pay for itself.

“The construction will wreak untold environmental damage and exacerbate rather than close the north-south divide.”

The amended route is unlikely to completely assuage local fears about the effects of building the network, with some calculating that merely removing the spoil from tunnelling will involve many hundreds of thousands of lorry journeys. But it might give political cover to Tory MPs such as the Welsh secretary, Cheryl Gillan, who has threatened to resign over HS2.

The coalition’s immediate concern is whether Gillan feels the package fails to make any changes in her constituency of Chesham and Amersham; she has said she would rather resign than accept the route as it has been proposed but officials have worked hard in consultation with MPs and ministers to take on board their concerns and suggested the eventual route will show the government has listened.

One source suggested Gillan had indicated she might not decide until the legislation has been published in 2013 – a date allowing the government some leeway in dealing with any parliamentary rebellion. One MP at the vanguard of opposition, Andrea Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire, has predicted more than 30 MPs may rebel.

Any vote at second reading of the legislation could be as late as autumn 2013, meaning the flashpoint for any resignations or parliamentary revolt would be delayed significantly. Pressure is not acute on the government as Labour supports the plan and legislation would be likely to pass easily, but the prime minister, David Cameron, will not want to lose a cabinet minister as it would force a reshuffle he has not been inclined to perform.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/10/hs2-rail-project-green-light


Analysis by Richard Black of the BBC:

Analysis

image of Richard Black
Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News

Big infrastructure projects often carry potential for both environmental benefit and harm; and HS2 is no exception.

Wildlife groups have warned it could damage around 160 important wildlife sites, and the latest modifications to the route have done little to alter that picture.

Stephen Trotter, head of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, told BBC News he was “very disappointed”; the much vaunted extra tunnels will do little, he said, and there’s still “serious concern” about destruction to woodlands and other important habitats.

All this might be bearable for environmental groups if HS2 guaranteed a big win on carbon emissions; but it doesn’t.

The government’s own projections show it’s not certain to reduce either flying or road use.

In any case, the trains will only be a green transport option if the electricity they use comes from low-carbon sources – which hangs on continuing government support for renewables and nuclear.

Anti-HS2 campaigners argue that improving existing lines could bring more certain environmental benefits much cheaper and much sooner.

Part of a good, informative BBC article  10.1.2012   at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16478954

 


High-speed rail link HS2 set for go ahead from minister

10.1.2012 (Guardian)

by  and 

An HS2 protest sign in Wendover

A train passes beneath a HS2 protest sign in Wendover, south-west England. Photograph: Darren Staples/REUTERS

The transport secretary will attempt to underline the benefits of high-speed rail to the rest of the country, beyond the planned routes between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, as she gives the green light to the £32bn project on Tuesday.

Justine Greening will confirm the first phase of the route from London to Birmingham on which high-speed trains will start running in 2026. She will also stress that the investment will mean faster, better services, and more trains to destinations beyond Britain’s second city, and emphasise the first phase should be only the foundation of a future network.

With opponents of the project questioning the huge expenditure for time savings of half an hour between London and Birmingham, the government will stress that early beneficiaries of the scheme will be places off or beyond the HS2 route.

Some high-speed trains – although not the double deckers mooted at the weekend by Greening – would continue onward on existing track to destinations on the west side of the country. Liverpool, Glasgow and Preston will first to benefit from these through-running services from 2026, travelling the first stage from London to the West Midlands at more than 200mph.

Manchester would also see reduced journey times southwards even before the network’s second phase is finished in 2032, connecting it to Birmingham. At that point, should a proposed spur joining the Eurostar route out of St Pancras be built, passengers from Paris will have the tantalising prospect of reaching Manchester on direct trains in 3½ hours.

Leeds will be equally accessible when the second branch of the Y-shaped network is finished also in 2032. It will cut journey times from Birmingham to Leeds – and beyond to Durham and Newcastle – by almost an hour.

A Department for Transport source said: “HS2 is not just about getting between London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester more quickly, but bringing faster services and many more seats to towns and cities well beyond the HS2 network.

“It would work just like a motorway. No one uses a motorway to get all the way from their front door to their final destination, but they use it because it offers high capacity and faster services – precisely what HS2 will offer rail passengers.”

Numerous business leaders, unions and some economists have recently come out in favour of the scheme, although others describe the government’s economic case as seriously flawed. Environmental groups have expressed loud concerns.

While the benefits of faster links may be clearer for towns and cities in the north, the government will have to contend with anger in its heartlands in southern constituencies, which will face the prospect of years of construction for no direct local benefit.

On Monday the Countryside Alliance warned that the government had yet to take “full consideration of the devastating impact HS2 will have on Britain’s countryside or the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people living along the route”.

The concerns of campaigners in the Chilterns are likely to be tempered by mitigation measures, possibly including an extra stretch of tunnel north of Amersham in the Chiltern hills, meaning that miles of the track would run underground. This alteration to the route is believed to one of the considerations that led Greening to delay her decision from December. It is unlikely to completely assuage local fears about the effects of building the network, with some calculating that merely removing the spoil from tunnelling will involve many hundreds of thousands of lorry journeys, but might give political cover to Tory MPs such as the Welsh secretary, Cheryl Gillan, who has threatened to resign over HS2.

The coalition’s immediate concern is whether Gillan feels the package fails to make any changes in her constituency of Chesham and Amersham; she has said she would rather resign than accept the route as it has been proposed but officials have worked hard in consultation with MPs and ministers to take on board their concerns and suggested the eventual route will show the government has listened.

One source suggested Gillan had indicated she might not decide until the legislation has been published in 2013 – a date allowing the government some leeway in dealing with any parliamentary rebellion. One MP at the vanguard of opposition – Andrea Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire – has predicted “more than 30” MPs may rebel.

Any vote at second reading of the legislation could be as late as autumn 2013, meaning the flashpoint for any resignations or parliamentary revolt would be delayed significantly. Pressure is not acute on the government as Labour supports the plan and legislation would be likely to pass easily, but the prime minister, David Cameron, will not want to lose a cabinet minister as it would force a reshuffle he has not been inclined to perform.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/10/high-speed-rail-link-minister


See also Times   (£)

Extra tunnels to make HS2 acceptable to Tory rebels

10…1.2012 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/transport/article3281919.ece  which says extra tunnels have been added to sections of the 140-mile route between London and Birmingham, the £16.4 billion first phase of the scheme. The 2nd phase is a Y-shaped route linking to Leeds and Manchester. Journey times between London and Manchester will fall by 30 minutes to 1 hour 38 minutes from 2026.


 Friends of the Earth press release:

High Speed Rail plans leave ordinary commuters high and dry

10th January 2012  (FoE)

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/high_speed_rail_approved_10012012.html

Responding to reports that Transport Secretary Justine Greening will announce the first phase of work on the High Speed 2 rail link today (Tuesday 10 January 2012), Friends of the Earth Director of Policy and Campaigns Craig Bennett said:

“We need to revolutionise travel away from roads and planes – but pumping £32 billion into high speed travel for the wealthy few while ordinary commuters suffer is not the answer.

“High Speed rail has a role to play in developing a greener, faster transport system, but current plans won’t do enough to cut emissions overall – Ministers should prioritise spending on improving local train and bus services instead.

“Just a fraction of the massive budget for High Speed 2 would rescue the 30,000 solar jobs under threat from Government cuts – investment of this kind would take us a lot further, faster to a safe and prosperous future.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

– The High Speed 2 scheme’s environmental impact assessment showed that it will be broadly neutral in carbon terms (DfT ‘http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110131042819/  and http:/www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/appraisalofsustainability/pdf/summary.pdf ‘ ).

This is because although it will take some passengers away from more carbon intensive domestic flights, it will generate many new journeys and will take passengers away from existing – less carbon intensive – conventional rail services (84% of passengers on the new line will be new trips or from conventional rail, http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/commandpaper/  ).

– Friends of the Earth is part of the Right Lines Charter group, which believes the Government’s High Speed Rail consultation and detailed High Speed 2 proposals are unsound at present the process and proposals for High Speed Rail should comply with four principles:

– National strategy: High Speed Rail proposals need to be set in the context of a long-term transport strategy stating clear objectives.

– Testing the options: Major infrastructure proposals, such as High Speed Rail, need to be ‘future-proofed’ by comprehensive testing against different scenarios. This will help identify the best solutions for genuinely furthering sustainable development.

– Public participation: Early public involvement in the development of major infrastructure proposals, including High Speed Rail, is essential. People need to be involved when all options are open for discussion and effective participation can take place.

– Minimising adverse impacts: High Speed Rail proposals need to be designed from the start to avoid significant adverse impacts on the natural environment, cultural heritage and local communities (including biodiversity, landscape, tranquility and access) during construction and operation.

– A full Friends of the Earth briefing on High Speed Rail is available http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/high_speed_rail.pdf  

– Friends of the Earth believes the environment is for everyone. We want a healthy planet and a good quality of life for all those who live on it. We inspire people to act together for a thriving environment. More than 90 per cent of our income comes from individuals so we rely on donations to continue our vital work.

 


 

Cameron faces high speed rail rebellion over go-ahead to £500million tunnel

By DANIEL MARTIN

9th January 2012  (Daily Mail)

The Prime Minister faces a revolt from ministers, backbench MPs and local councils over this week’s expected go-ahead for a new high speed rail route from London to Birmingham.

More than 30 MPs could vote against the £32billion scheme, while some ministers – including Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan – may resign.

Eighteen councils oppose the project and one of them, Aylesbury Vale, is preparing the case for a judicial review.

Threat: Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan threatened to resign over the prospect of the high speed network running through her constituencyThreat: Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan threatened to resign over the prospect of the high speed network running through her constituency

Plans for a £500million railway tunnel along part of the route in Buckinghamshire are expected to be unveiled this week. Whitehall sources say they hope the scheme will be enough to persuade Amersham and Chesham MP Ms Gillan to withdraw her threat of resignation. 

More…

The Welsh Secretary threatened to quit at the prospect of some of the loveliest countryside in England being scarred by new trains racing by at 250mph.

However, the move would come at a heavy price – the planned extra tunnel works out at about £190,000 a yard, or nearly £5,300 per inch.

Sources said the proposal was one of several expected concessions in the £32 billion High Speed 2 link. 

It is also part of a campaign by Transport Minister Justine Greening, appointed last October, to win over not just her fellow Ministers but also the travelling public.

The opposition highlights the growing concern from campaigners over the heavy cost to taxpayers, disruption to local communities and damage to the countryside.

A ‘growing number’ of Tory MPs however are opposed to the route, according to South Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom.

‘I cannot assume which way they would go in a Commons vote, but I am talking of more than 30,’ she said.

‘I am all in favour of more spending on infrastructure, but this is a vast enterprise. The economic case has not been made.’

A Transport Department source said that within days of arriving at the department, Ms Greening summoned aides and told them that she wanted to change the approach taken by her straight-faced predecessor Philip Hammond.

‘What this department needs is acts of love,’ said Ms Greening, 42.

The rail line, which will reduce journey times between London and Birmingham to 49 minutes by 2026, cuts through a swathe of Tory-held seats and is barely two miles from Chequers, the Prime Minister’s retreat.

Last year, Ms Gillan stunned colleagues by threatening to quit if the rail line was approved. In November, she told Ms Greening that the proposed HS2 route would ‘leave a deep scar on the stunning, fragile and unique British countryside’ in her constituency. Ms Gillan was unavailable for comment last night.

Plans: How journey times will be cut

 

But some opponents of the link said the concessions were not enough. Steven Adams, a Tory councillor in Buckinghamshire, said: ‘After years of blight and destruction, local people will still be left with a £32 billion iron motorway, and all of its accompanying maintenance roads, vents and shafts, ruining one of the most beautiful parts of Britain.’

The Transport Department declined to comment. But Mr Cameron yesterday talked about his passionate belief in the need for high-speed rail.

‘The things that have made the biggest difference to regional patterns of growth are major transport infrastructure,’ he said.

‘If you really want this agenda, rebalancing the economy, spreading growth out from the South East, linking our biggest cities with high-speed rail, it’s an agenda you simply can’t ignore.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083825/HS2-David-Cameron-faces-high-speed-rail-rebellion-ahead-500m-tunnel.html