What to read after HL 134 - The Economics Of High Speed 2?

The construction of High Speed 2 - a railway estimated to cost £50 billion - will be one of the most expensive infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK. The Government has yet to make a convincing case for proceeding with the project. The Committee fully support investment in rail infrastructure and welcome the Government's commitment to it. But the project has to be developed against a background of financial restraint and it is not at all clear that HS2 represents the best, most cost effective solution to the problems it is intended to solve. The Government's two declared objectives for the project are to increase capacity on the railway to meet long-term demand and to rebalance the economy by stimulating growth in the north of England. But the scale of the alleged capacity problem is unclear and the Government has not demonstrated that HS2 is the most effective way of achieving the desired rebalancing of the economy. On capacity, published statistics on current rail usage do not suggest that there is an overcrowding problem on long-distance trains, either now or in the near future. On stimulating growth, the Government has not considered whether this could be better achieved by investing in improving regional links between northern cities.