Industry report urges British government to follow through with HS2

The report released on July 11, titled Why Britain Needs HS2, says that completing HS2 is essential for reducing Britain’s north-south divide, and that the project will deliver improved rail services to far more towns and cities than is generally realised.

HSRIL includes train manufactures Hitachi, Alstom, Siemens, and Bombardier, which have submitted bids to supply the HS2 fleet, construction companies such as Strabag and Bouygues Construction, and consultants including Bechtel and Atkins.

The findings in the report, which was released as part of a submission to the British Treasury’s upcoming comprehensive spending review, says a number of city strategies and investments are predicated on HS2, and that cancelling HS2 would leave those plans in cities like Birmingham and Leeds in jeopardy.

HSRIL says that HS2 is also essential to achieving net zero emissions and tackling the climate emergency, as a high speed rail journey would typically result in a 90% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with flying the same route.

Cancelling the project would also likely result in the loss of 9000 jobs.

Cost

The report says HS2’s is currently budgeted to cost around £3.1bn per annum between 2020 and 2035, which it says represents around 0.4% of Britain’s estimated annual public expenditure budget of £837.4bn.

The report argues that the road fuel duty tax, which has been frozen for the past nine years, could raise about £9bn a year which could cover the combined annual cost of HS2, NPR and Crossrail 2.

“Britain is today a divided country with alarming and unjust disparities in wealth and opportunity between our cities and regions,” says HSRIL director, Mr Jim Steer. “We can see the beginnings of an HS2 transformation already in Birmingham. As confidence grows in the project as a whole, a rich pattern of private sector investment and new job opportunities, with higher productivity will follow.”

A report published by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on May 16 questioned the economic case for HS2, with the committee saying that the project should not go ahead without a new assessment of its costs and benefits.