Tag: hs2

• Spinning as fast as they can

  The Department for Transport appears to have briefed all the newspapers about the latest review into the HS2 fiasco – presumably to take the sting out of the news of more delays, cost increases, and backtracking – but one report on the Times suggests that compromises along the way will deliver a botched project.
  
  It reports that:

  Chris Gibb, previously chief operating officer at Virgin Trains, believes economic growth will be constrained because a likely reduction in capacity on Glasgow to London Euston services will inevitably push up prices.

  Gibb fears the likelihood of only one hourly Glasgow-to-London train will mean the service is unable to cope with demand for special events such as the Commonwealth Games or London Marathon, as well as traditional peak points such as school holidays.

  

  The Times and other papers have previously reported on the sacking of Chris Gibb from the Department for Transport Operator after he made similar comments, including that a lower frequency will combine with shorter trains.

  The story in terms of the capacity to Glasgow is very complicated and analysis seems to depend on what you compare it against – the existing situation or the original plans for HS2.

  (more…)

  2026.05.19

• A pointless distraction?

  Unsurprisingly, Heidi Alexander’s announcement that she has “tasked HS2 Ltd to explore options to remove complexity that could cut billions in costs and reduce delays” has fallen flat with people who know what they are talking about.

  The DfT said:

  HS2 was originally commissioned to run at 360km/h, which would have made them the fastest conventional high-speed trains anywhere in the world. However, no railway in the UK, or globally, is currently engineered for 360km/h.

  This means that HS2 would have to wait for HS2 tracks to be built before testing any trains – an approach which could increase costs and delay the completion of the project.

  There’s an interesting use of language of possibility here, with “would have” suggesting that trains at this speed are not going to happen and “could” admitting that the increase in costs and delay might come to nothing.

  

  RAIL magazine reports:

  Plans to change the specification of HS2 to reduce the top speed are unlikely to save money, according to engineers.

  Railway engineer and writer Gareth Dennis said:

  (more…)

  2026.03.25

• New HS2 delay “is good news”

  The FT (paywall) is reporting that HS2 Ltd is further delaying the planned link between the bit of the high speed railway that survived Rishi Sunak’s cull and the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

  When Rishi Sunak scrapped the second phase of HS2 in October 2023, the extension to Handsacre (via Birmingham and direct) became part of Phase One as a compromise, albeit one that would potentially worsen congestion on the WCML.

  The plan was to allow HS2 trains to join the WCML at Handsacre Junction, just north of Lichfield in Staffordshire, from where they could continue towards the North West and possibly Scotland.

  But work was deferred.

  

  Now, in a move attributed to a reset of the project under new CEO Mark Wild, the company building the high speed railway has said the link will be deferred further:

  (more…)

  2025.10.22