Government adviser warns: ‘No alternative’ to HS2

THERE is no alternative to High Speed Rail in terms of relieving capacity on Britain’s overcrowded railway network, the man advising the Government on the scheme has said.

Speaking to an invited audience in Birmingham, Professor Andrew McNaughton, chief engineer of HS2 Ltd, said the existing infrastructure would be at full capacity within the next decade and any other schemes for easing transport links were not viable.

“HS2 has the passenger capacity of at least two motorways so it’s far more efficient than building more roads. In my opinion there is simply no alternative to High Speed Rail,” he said.

Once operational, HS2 is expected to carry around 140,000 passengers a day, way beyond the current network’s capacity.

Even a further upgrade to the existing network would be unlikely to deliver the desired effect and would result in massive disruption, said Prof McNaughton, harking back to the situation which arose during the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line.

He said what the UK should do – and what HS2 had advised the Government to do – was to follow the example of countries like Germany and Japan and invest in a modern, efficient High Speed Rail network.

In Germany, he said the route between Frankfurt to Cologne – roughly equivalent to the distance between London and Birmingham – was one of the most efficient and well-used services in the world.

He said the most successful lines operated on the basis of getting people between major cities as quickly as possible rather than having a lot of stations along the route.

The plan for the UK therefore should not be seen solely as a means of transporting people between London and Birmingham but between London and Manchester, London and Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds and eventually through to Edinburgh.

“The business case for HS2 supports running from city to city and minimising stops between them. This is how the most successful High Speed Rail services operate,” said Prof McNaughton.

He said one of the most successful routes in Europe was the service between Paris and Brussels, which is roughly equivalent to the distance between London and Manchester. This gave rise to the view a High Speed service between these two cities would be well used.

Prof McNaughton said the plan submitted to the Government suggested that Birmingham would be the hub of the whole network.

“The West Midlands is a wealth-generating area with more people working in the private rather than the public sector. Therefore it makes sense to have a hub within that area.

“Around 80% of city centre travel would be to central London so the business case demands making that route as efficient as possible,” he said.

The plan would be to have a satellite station at Birmingham International, which would allow commuters on the periphery of  Birmingham conurbation access to the High Speed network as well as Birmingham Airport and the NEC.

However, there would be no further stops until London.

Prof McNaughton said he had been challenged by the Government about why the High Speed network would not link to Heathrow and had said the low volume of users did not justify such a service being introduced.

However, having a link to Birmingham Airport was desirable and would enable commuters to get to Birmingham just as easily as any of the airports around London.

The economic benefits of the service were picked up by Redditch MP Karen Lumley, who was also invited to the event.

She told the meeting, hosted by law firm Pinsent Masons, that HS2  would “bring some of the economic growth that  the South East has seen in recent years to the Midlands and  help to bridge the North South divide”.

However, it is likely to be a long time before the benefits are felt as the route between London and Birmingham is unlikely to be operational before 2020.

Prof McNaughton put this into context with some of the other High Speed networks around the world.

He said that the UK network was likely to occupy around 300 miles of track and in all probability was unlikely to be fully operational before 2030.

In contrast, China has built 1,000 miles of High Speed track since the end of the Beijing Olympics, while the Japanese rebuilt the section of railway destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in March in just 35 days.

Pinsent Masons partner Patrick Twist said the problem was that the UK adopted a far more cautious approach to infrastructure development.

Nevertheless, he said: “HS2 will be an essential part of providing England with an infrastructure fit for the 21st century.”

The law firm has worked on rail projects around the world, including the Johannesburg to Pretoria line, which was completed in time for last year’s World Cup.

A public consultation into HS2 ended in July and attracted more than 50,000 responses. These are now being assessed and the Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is likely to make an announcement on whether the HS2 will go ahead later this year.