Tue 18 Dec 2018, 06:28 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot CLP.
On Panorama, BBC’s investigative programme, there was an investigation into HS2, Going off the Rails. It examined the impact the high-speed rail scheme is having and the cost of the project. The aim of HS2 is to connect London with trains to the northern cities. In future, trains could reach speeds of up to 225mph and it is claimed that this could lead to jobs being created in the Midlands and Northern areas.
The overall cost of the new network was estimated at £56billion.The reporter interviewed the former lands and property director who stated that the cost of compulsory purchase of land and property was a “false forecast” and a serious underestimate of the true cost. He was expected to supply the lower forecast to the board of HS2. He refused, and was subsequently sacked from his post.
Parliament gave approval on the basis of the lower estimate. However, phase 1 of the project – London to Birmingham – was estimated at £27 billion and is likely to be more than double this. One expert described this as the most expensive railway build in history.
There have also been many complaints about the compensation received by those who have been given notice of a compulsory purchase order. One guy who runs a garage, hasn’t received a penny. A small wood recycling business received £45,000; however, the cost of relocating was £300,000. The business, which took 30 years to build, is in financial problems. There are also doubts about the true cost of the construction of the railway line.
The question that needs to be asked is, does the cost and disruption caused by HS2 outweigh the actual benefits that proponents of the scheme claim? Who is actually making money on all the consultancies and preparatory work?
We can compare this to what is taking place in the bus sector, in which passenger numbers are falling (outside London). The fall in bus journeys is a direct result of eight years of cuts in council budgets.
What Britain needs is a socialist fully-integrated transport system that brings the major monopolies that control air, road, rail and sea into public ownership, so that transport is based upon our needs, rather than private profit.
