Scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham to invest in alternative transport projects will not solve the fundamental problem with our rail network, Simon Calder has argued in The Independent.
The travel expert spoke out after it was announced that the high-speed rail project will now terminate in the Midlands and may not even make it into central London without private investment.
Although much has been said about the time-saving aspects of HS2, the case for increasing capacity on other lines has not been given enough time or consideration.
Local, regional, intercity and freight trains all share the same ageing Victorian lines, a problem that cannot be easily addressed by tinkering around the edges.
As Calder notes, “HS2 was the solution” because it “transferred all the high-speed intercity trains from the Midlands and North to new infrastructure in order to create more capacity on the network the Victorians bequeathed to us”.
It works for the same reason that motorways work, in that they take faster intercity traffic from the local A-roads.
By taking that away, the government has “ripped the guts from a huge public transport investment halfway through, saddling future generations with most of the costs of a hopelessly botched project but with few of the benefits.
“They are treating the UK’s travellers unkindly, and history will not be kind to them.”
Related: HS2 alternative plans watered down or dropped a day after being announced