Insane to spend £100bn on HS2 when UK rail system fails on the basics

[John Ashworth]

It is insane to spend £100bn on HS2 when Britain’s rail system fails on the basics

While much of his criticism of Britain's railways is valid, he fails to take into account that HS2 is not just about increasing speed, but more importantly it is about increasing capacity, increasing train paths. Britain's railway are currently operating at pretty much full capacity with little room for growth and little margin for recovery when breakdowns, accidents, bad weather, suicides on the line, etc occur. One way or another, that capacity has to be increased greatly, whether by HS2 or other means. Of course there are also arguments against the cost of HS2 - other countries seem capable of building comparable high speed lines far more economically.