Abstract
The aim of this paper is the analyse the possible advantages and disadvantages as well as the controversy revolving around the development and construction of the HS2 project to the UK, assessing different viewpoints from the public and members of the government. The HS2 railway, expected to be completed by 2033, is a great leap into transport advancement for the UK. By highlighting a range of strengths and weaknesses of the project based on public opinions and those of the government. It may not be seen that the aims of the government are exactly what is good for the public, so its impact may have a completely different effect than expected. Ultimately, HS2 is definitely seen as a transport advancement and a project that will enhance transport compared to the railway lines that have currently been put in place such as Crossrail.
Introduction
The High-Speed Rail developments have been seen to be worthwhile for the transport in Europe for example in the Netherlands. HS2 is a new infrastructure project that is being developed to allow easier access different cities in the UK at a much faster rate with shorter distance times than the average train, from London Euston the travel time is under an hour to Birmingham. It will link different parts of the UK, Manchester, Birmingham, London and the East Midlands will all become connected by the railway line. Whether the project is one that will benefit the UK is put into question by many factors associated with its development.
Background of HS2
High Speed Two, also known as HS2, is a high-speed railway line that has been proposed in the UK running from North to South. The proposition is being dealt with in phases. Phase One will link London with Birmingham and the West Midlands while Phase 2a will lengthen the route to Crewe. Phase 2b will extend the route to Manchester, Leeds and further on. Phase One of HS2 was approved by the High-Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Act (2017). HS2 Ltd is the non-departmental public body responsible for developing and promoting these proposals. The company works to a Development Agreement made with the Secretary of State for Transport. The Government presented a hybrid Bill1 to Parliament to seek powers for the construction and operation of Phase 2a of HS2 (the Proposed Scheme). The Proposed Scheme is a railway starting at Fradley at its southern end. At the northern end it connects with the WCML south of Crewe to allow HS2 services to join the WCML and call at Crewe Station. North of this junction with the WCML, the Proposed Scheme continues to a tunnel portal south of Crewe.
Strengths of the HS2 Project
Allowance of Accessibility around the Country and Economic Growth
HS2 will allow there to be additional accessibility around the country due to the fact that it stops around many of the major cities in the UK, notably London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds to name a few. It is argued that HS2 will further productivity on account of the interconnectedness that will be brought about by the project. Additionally, the best and worst performing constituencies within the UK will become closer because of the project (Department for Transport, 2017). Consequently, this implies the common ground of inclusion of all cities and regions throughout the UK. This is in terms of performance also, it could be said that this is a response to the project touching most regions within the UK, supporting the claim a main agenda of the project is one that heavily includes all parts of the UK, to somewhat improve them and make them a better place to reside for all inhabitants. An example of this is, by allowing more direct routes to cities in the UK, people such as graduates are more likely to want to stay in the cities within the Midlands for instance, because of the increase of productivity and creation of jobs as well as the development of their careers. Ultimately, there will be an enhancement of growth within the regions (Department for Transport, 2017). HS2 connecting the biggest cities in the UK together allows for greater economic growth (Network Rail, 2017) this will especially be in the East of HS2 cities and regions such as, Sheffield, Leeds East Midlands and Birmingham will be more linked together strengthening the Northern super-economy of that contains 8 million people and 4 million jobs, within a short travel time of about an hour. In terms of economic growth especially in the HS2 East cities is that HS2 East cities are projected to benefit economically by £4.2bn. As a result of the construction of HS2 the urban renewal that will take place to accommodate HS2 will draw a large sum of money in investment, many new jobs, and will renew areas allowing them to become more economically sustainable in the long run (HS2 East, 2018). HS2 consents the capability for businesses to differentiate or found themselves outside of London. Concerning locations that are further, it will make doing business simpler, moreover firms and cities will be able to specialise and aid markets that were once contemplated as impractical due to distance (Munro, A and Gaines, P, 2013). Transport for West Midlands argues that it is fundamental for businesses in the West Midlands particularly to have a directly channel into HS1 this will happen through international services. The position of the region’s exporters will be intensified and heighten the appeal for inward investors. Specifically, the delivery of direct services to Paris, in roughly 3 hours and Brussels, in less than 3 hours, will assist the Midlands in joining straight into the budding European High-Speed Rail network that will carry major prosperity to businesses within the Midlands and initiate new market opportunities. Likewise, the provision of direct rail services from Europe will also improve access to the region’s major tourist centres, the UK will appeal more to European visitors. (transport for West Midlands). This will broaden the interest of the UK in the eyes of other countries. However, these particular advantages do have an aspect of uncertainty towards them. By contrast to the aforementioned points, there is a lack of comprehension of economic growth that supposedly will result from HS2. There have been different claims of what the actual amount of economic benefits yielding from HS2 will truly be, the BCR had an approximation of £13.3bn for wider economic benefits, concerning predominantly to expansions to commuting 19 catchments. KPMG argued that the scheme would deliver spatial economic benefits of £15bn each year, but since this report, KPMG’s procedures have been called into question. However, various professionals have brought forward estimates between £2.5bn and £0.01bn per year (May and Tyler, 2016). In terms of connectivity, the nature of the projects HSR, and HS2, indicates a limited amount of transitional stations along the route, with each stop costing up to 15 minutes. The disadvantage of offering too many stations, for greater access which is apparent on HS1, where Eurostar has been made stop some of its services between London and the Chunnel. Two stations in London, are quite close to each other, one of them not being Heathrow and two in Birmingham are thus questionable in terms of the economic case. (Banister, D & Givoni, M, 2014). Also see that HS2 may not actually be the answer to economic growth and rebalancing for example In Korea a high-speed line between Seoul and Busan was opened in 2004 with an objective of rebalancing a heavily centralised national economy. However, as of 2010 the evidence suggests that so far this target has not been achieved (Centre for Cities, 2013).
HS2 Amending the Issues of Congestion
The fact that HS2 will also allow more access around the UK also follows on to the point that it will lead to less congestion on the road and more ease of travel. The widening of the horizons will boost the amount of people taking the train and will keep less people on the road leading to less traffic in the long run (Economic Help, 2018). HS2 will also lower the negative externalities from blockages on national and local roads. Currently, major city centres roads are congested. The increasing population also adds additional burden, and the cities capacities to offer opportunities for the newly entered labour force. As well as this, congestion will be reduced by having increased capacity on the trains with a projection of 300,000 people being carried on the train per day (Myles, 2015) As a result of the high speeds of the trains there will be more space available on the standing rail network. Therefore, these augmentations allow greater reliability of the rail network and give train companies the occasion to surge and improve services on these corridors and even locations that aren’t covered by HS2. It is said that approximately 18 trains per hour should be in operation by 2033 going from London and to London with a chance of an additional 12 trains travelling to and from Birmingham (Department of Transport, 2017). These developments meet the accumulative demand now met by rail, in 2012 there were there was said to be roughly 100,000 passengers each day travelling into London during the morning peak times (department of transport, 2013). Its claimed that Phase One of the project is to deal with the issue of overcrowding especially on the West Coast Main Line between London and Birmingham. HS2 will alter long-distance travel, advance day-to-day travels and form space for passengers as well as freight to transport from congested roads. However, it is argued that congestion may not be solved by HS2 as there are issues with this project. HS2 is thought by some to be more of a requirement because of trains becoming fuller, however commuter trains the busiest trains HS2 rather supplements long-distance capacity. Long-distance trains that come out of Euston aren’t so full, even during rush hour periods: “Department for Transport figures released last year show long distance trains out of Euston at peak hours are 52 per cent full” (Munro and Gaines).
HS2 Bringing National Pride
Aside from HS2 solving issues of congestion, it will also allow HS2 to bring a sense of national pride to the UK. This is because HS2 is the most prevalent infrastructure project that the UK has seen. An element of this is the connectivity between the biggest cities in the UK, mentioned in the first part of the essay, also factors into the national pride that it said to be achieved by HS2. The project will allow prosperity and leave a legacy for future generations in the UK. The locations that make up the HS2 railway line all contribute to the identity of HS2. HS2 aims to enrich national and community pride, but at the same time backing its own brand to support its objectives which are operational and commercial (Design Vision, 2018). HS2 accomplishment that the UK can look forward to that will enhance the performance of the country overall.
Disadvantages of HS2
Environmental Impacts Caused by HS2
Although HS2 is noted to has been proven above as an advantageous advancement to transport in the UK, there are environmental impacts that come at a cost of such a huge improvement to the UK transport system. Notably, there has been discussion about the effect of the construction of HS2 in terms of traffic and noise pollution (National Trust, 2017). Roads will particularly congested Regents Park Ward as a result of traffic diversions, causing heavy interruptions. Consequently, pedestrian courses will be disrupted, such as the Harrington Street facing closure of a section of its pedestrian route (GOV UK, 2013). The ongoing construction is likely to cause disorder for nearby inhabitants.
Countryside and/or rural areas with face most of the disruptions as they rail line is being built directly through it (Hamptons, 2017). Chiltern Hills is a location within the rural area of the UK that is remarkably going to be affected as habitats and properties are planned to be torn down and demolished (Garner, 2014). Aside from this, woodlands areas will potentially be torn down to house HS2 therefore wildlife will be displaced as they’ll be driven pushed out of their habitats and it is doubted that they will return. (Kenilworth Weekly, 2013). HS2 project may overlook important aspect such as the environment all for the sake of trying to better the transport system in the UK. The habituation of individuals can be better understood by the Department for Transport sustainability statement, which focuses outcomes of the construction of HS2 (Department for Transport, 2016). One of these being, about 25 miles of the rail line will be constructed directly on floodplains. In the case of flooding, it will become much complex to deal with. HS2 gives the opportunity for a vaster risk of flooding, Manchester Piccadilly Station is one location that will be directly affected because the line will be built on watercourses. However, planned compensation is being arranged for those who will be affected by the flooding (Mason, 2017). In juxtaposition, there are some considerations that have been looked into to make HS2 the most efficient railway line it can be. There will be a decrease in CO2 emissions as the number of cars on the road is likely to decline, additionally HS2 may be alternative option for people when travelling (Siccardi, 2016). Furthermore, measures are being put into place diminish noise pollution such as the use of acoustic fences a concept conveyed by Transport secretary Philip Hammond (Beleben, 2011). In terms of area, the government is willing to bring about actions enabling the public to sell their property to them at market value (GOV UK, 2017), this will most probably be beneficial to the environment and the public for that matter. The route leading to the completion of HS2 isn’t the most ideal for the environment or individuals that inhabit the surroundings, the bigger picture for the aim of HS2 can be assessed.
Costs of HS2
HS2 was budgeted to be £55.7bn by the government in the 2015 Spending Review, with Phase 1 amounting to £27.18bn, Phase 2a at £3.72bn and Phase 2b at £24.83bn (GOV UK, 2017). In the midst of all the positives that HS2 brings there are costs are involved and that are ambivalent. Those in favour of HS2 believe that the costs are being overestimated by placing attention on total costs and disregarding the divide in revenues and subsidies. In their opinion, fares would decrease the costs to the government from approximately £30 billion to £17 billion. Those who are opposed to the scheme think rather the benefits, that are roughly said to be about 47 million are overstated because of the fact that they are somewhat calculated by turning time savings on HS2 into money by putting a value the time that would be saved by individuals. They argue that the dilemma associated with this is that the quantity used to value time savings is placed too high because it presumes that while on trains people are mostly idle. Some defenders of the scheme don’t object this but take the standpoint that the benefits are undervalued because the number of passengers will be greater than expected. Their argument is that HS2 uses middle-of-the-road figures for passenger growth. Railway experts on the other hand take the view that HS2 has overstated passenger growth by using predictions from current years. Overall, the uncertainty of costs is a prominent matter in the arguments of HS2. These costs could have been evaluated further to avoid the fluctuations in the bill after the proposed amount was set, however it could be seen that HS2 is will live up to its costs because of the benefits mentioned prior. All of these things are unlikely to be brought about without hefty costs involved.
Conclusion
In conclusion both sides of the argument concerning HS2 deliver exceptional reasoning either supporting or disagreeing with the project. HS2 should somewhat be taken into account due to the prosperity that could be brought into the UK as a result.