Pros and Cons of High Speed Rail

HS2
by Tejvan Pettinger on March 1, 2013 in economics

HS2 is a proposed new railway line linking London Euston to

Birmingham, and in the second phase Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield
and eventually Scotland.
Supporters of high speed rail argue it is necessary to meet the UKs
rapidly growing demand for travel. High speed rail will provide the
greenest, safest and most efficient form of transport. The investment
will provide a major boost to business and the economy; the faster rail
links will help reduce the north-south divide, and overcome the
externalities of car use.
Opponents of high speed rail argue that it is primarily an unnecessary
project that cant be justified given the huge cost involved; critics
argue that there are much more pressing priorities such as small scale
road and rail projects which help to deal with smaller bottlenecks. Also
opponents are often motivated by the impact of the new railway on the
environment.

Pros of High Speed Rail

1.

2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.

Road system is becoming crowded with limited ability to keep

increasing capacity. Offering high speed rail, will encourage more
people to travel by train relieving gridlock in city centres. Therefore, it
is not just rail travellers who will benefit, but those who gain from lower
congestion on the roads.
Investment will provide jobs for those involved in building and
running the new HS2
Journey times from London to Birmingham will be less than one
hour. There will also be quick rail links to Manchester and Leeds.
Despite objections, HS1 has proved successful. Demand for HS1
rail travel to continent has proved to meet expectations; this has
enabled more people to easily travel to the continent.
The 17bn will be spread out over 15-20 years, therefore we can
afford it.
The 1- 2bn annual capital investment will help create jobs,
stimulate economic activity and give a decent rate of return.
Take travel away from short distance air-travel, leaving lower
carbon footprint.

8.

Environmental impact will be mitigated by green tunnels and

planting of trees.
9.
Empirical results show that increased train frequency can have
significant external benefits in terms of lower pollution, fewer road
accidents and drops in infant mortality.Figure 1. The environmental
benefits of railroads: Effect of 10% increase in rail frequency

Source: VOX Can railways curb traffic externalities?

10.
Trains have a better safety record than the roads. Passenger
death rates (2008)

By car 1.9 per billion Km

By train 0.3 per billion Km

Cons of HS2

There are other alternatives such as increasing train length on

existing routes.
HS2 may only benefit a small section of the population who use

trains between major cities.

Benefits of improved speed is debatable given that many people

can now work on laptops away from the office.

Environmental costs of building new line through the Chilterns.
In an era of budget cuts, spending on train service is not the

highest priority.
Forecasts for passenger numbers are uncertain, no guarantee
the demand will be there.

Rail-future a campaigning group for rail travel criticised the need

for ultra high speed trains, there may be a bigger overall benefit from
running slightly slower trains over different routes. Railfuture

It is not often Britain attempts an ambitious investment project. The

political system makes expensive, forward thinking investment projects
unlikely to return much political capital. Elections arent won by
promising improved transport links for the next decade. True, we like
to grumble at the inadequate state of current transport links, but to
actually invest the necessary money and time is another matter.
However, you can be sure building any new investment project will lose
a few votes from disgruntled voters who are adversely affected by the
infrastructure appearing in their back garden. Even if it does get
support, there is always some financial crisis to come along leaving the
government to scratch around for spending cuts. Its always going to
be easier to postpone capital investment projects rather than make
nurses and policemen redundant. The odds are really stacked against
HS2 will cost 32 billion to build, generate 27 billion in fares and
provide 44 billion of economic benefits