HS2 needs a radical rethink to give Britain better connectivity – CityAM : CityAM

HS2 has never had an easy ride. Fiercely opposed from the beginning by MPs from all parties, it has been lucky to survive up until now. Following the news this week that its budget is to increase by another £22bn and it will delayed by seven years, the prognosis looks terminal.Clearly, HS2 should not go ahead in its current iteration. To scrap the entire project now, however, would be a huge mistake. Instead, HS2 should be significantly rescoped and focused on solving the problems it was set up as the answer to: to bring capacity to the UK rail network where it is most needed.The current iteration of HS2 misses this point entirely. By drawing passenger services away from the West Coast Main Line, it will in fact make rail travel worse for many of those who currently use the existing route, while creating new capacity where there is no particularly strong demand for it.To see evidence of what this looks like in practice, consider what happened when HS1 was introduced in 2009. This saw fast services between London and Ashford axed, with passengers left with the choice of either accepting a large increase in journey time, or paying a significant premium to travel on HS1.HS2’s victims will be in places like Stoke, Coventry and Wigan, as their existing fast services to London disappear, to make way for transporting goods up and down the country.So, I hear you ask, what should the alternative be? The first thing the Prime Minister should commit to is scrapping Phase 1, which runs between London and Birmingham. Far more London-Birmingham connectivity can be achieved by redirecting funds to improving the Chiltern Main Line – a popular and well-run existing route that has the potential to expand.Significant savings would also be made from not having to tear up large parts of the Chilterns to accommodate the new line. But in contrast to Phase 1, Phase 2 of the project should definitely go ahead. This part of the route has far more of a business case, as improving links between Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will be crucial to building up connectivity in the north.To further augment this connectivity, funds from Phase 1 should be diverted to the Northern Powerhouse Rail – the scheme linking Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull. The government has already indicated tentative support for this, which should be welcomed.Done together, HS2 Phase 2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail will create a conglomeration effect across the north of England, helping disparate towns and cities become more of the sum of their parts – and enabling the region to emerge as an economic competitor to London.Packaging this up and selling it to MPs and other stakeholders won’t be easy for the government, especially for those fully committed to the current plans. But if HS2 is to make any return on investment, they will need to consider a radically different option to what’s currently on the table.Main image: Getty