What Is HS2? British Government Green Lights $137 Billion High-Speed Railway

The U.K. government has approved a plan to construct a high-speed rail line – dubbed High Speed 2, or HS2 – that will reportedly cost some 106 billion pounds sterling ($137 billion) and become the biggest infrastructure project in Europe.

“The cabinet has given high-speed rail the green signal. We are going to get this done,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday.

Work will begin within weeks on HS2 which will allow trains to reach speeds of up to 250 miles per hour.

“Our generation faces a historic choice,” Johnson told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “We can try to get by with the existing routes from north to south, we can consign the next generation to overcrowding, standing up in the carriageways, or we can take the guts to take a decision. No matter how difficult or controversial, which will deliver prosperity to every part of the country.”

The first part of HS2 will be a route between London and Birmingham – 118 miles – scheduled for completion by 2031. The second stage of the project – due to be finished by no sooner than 2035 -- will connect Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester.

Britain’s sole existing high-speed rail track -- HS1 – opened in 2003 and currently links London to the Channel Tunnel, which connects the U.K. to France.

The high-speed railway has as many supporters and detractors.

Johnson and many conservatives see the rail line as a key part of the government’s plan to stimulate domestic economic growth in a post-Brexit world. (On Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics said the U.K. delivered no growth at all in the fourth quarter).

Adam Marshall, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, called the decision to build the railway “great news for businesses, investment and growth” for many parts of the country.

“It’s time to stop debating and start delivering the new capacity and connections that HS2 will bring to our communities and businesses,” he said.

The rail project has also been supported by many politicians and businessmen in the Midlands and northern England, including Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council.

“All of our commuter lines are full and there’s no room for freight on the existing network, so taking the long distance trains off the existing network and putting them on their own network means we will have more and more reliable services between Manchester, Birmingham and London and across to Liverpool, Bradford and Leeds,” he said.

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said an "integrated high-speed network North to South and East to West" is "the best way to rebalance our national economy.”

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity; to create a truly balanced Britain that works for everyone,” he added.

Richard Butler, West Midlands regional director of the CBI business group said the U.K. had an obsolete railway system that needed to be modernized.

“We need to do something about capacity and it’s almost impossible to upgrade the current network without closing it down indefinitely to achieve that,” he said. “High Speed 2 is the only way of bringing in that extra capacity we need.”

Phil Mackie wrote in BBC News that the city of Birmingham is poised to benefit greatly from the project.

“Birmingham's skyline has been transformed over the past decade since HS2 was first announced, and I've been told there are a lot of other projects that will come now the green light has been given,” he wrote. “Tens of thousands of jobs and tens of millions of pounds of investment has already come into the city .”

Dr Jonathan Owens of the University of Salford Business School, noted that the beleaguered British Steel would likely benefit from HS2.

“HS2 needs about 170 tons of long product rail and switch, which can be made in [British Steel’s factory in] Scunthorpe," he said. "Therefore, it would make sense for this plant to be the main supplier for the project. Buying raw material from overseas is a waste of time, money and effort, as well as increasing the supply chain cost by up to 30%."

Even some voices who normally oppose the Tories praised the rail line.

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson of Twickenham in West London said "cutting domestic flights and moving people onto our railways" is key to fighting climate change.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, the train drivers' union, also praised the railway line.

"This is good news because Britain needs not just a new high-speed rail line but a new high-speed rail network," he said. "The project has been criticized by environment campaigners but HS2 is part of the solution to climate change – because rail is part of the green agenda – and will mean fewer cars, fewer lorries, and fewer carbon emissions. If we are serious about climate change – and want a true, integrated transport network – then HS2 has to be delivered."

However, HS2 has been widely criticized for its potentially negative impact on the environment and its spiraling cost estimates – having doubled since 2015.

With respect to the high cost, Johnson said he will appoint a government minister who will supervise HS2 full time, seek cost savings, impose a timetable and prevent delays.

Richard Wellings, head of transport at the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, said he was “deeply disappointed” with the project.

“With the predicted costs ballooning to £106 billion, the costs are now likely to exceed the benefits,” said Wellings. “And the project is highly unlikely to transform the north in the ways that have been promised. Investment in alternative schemes -- such as incremental improvements to existing infrastructure in northern towns and cities -- would deliver far larger economic gains.”

A campaign group called STOP HS2 said that the proposed railway will only benefit London and its financial service companies and also damage ancient woodlands, nature reserves and wildlife sites.

“People with vested commercial interests in seeing the government commit to building the most expensive railway in the history of the world lobbied hard and got what they wanted,” said STOP HS2 Campaign Manager Joe Rukin.

John Sauven, the Greenpeace director, said the railway line will grant Johnson the “dubious honor of being this century’s largest destroyer of ancient woodlands in the U.K.”

Jamie Peters, Friends of the Earth’s campaign director, said: “HS2 is a costly and damaging mistake which will threaten wildlife, destroy ancient woodlands and do nothing to reduce climate-wrecking pollution.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who lost the general election to Johnson last December, questioned the project’s high price tag and called for fares on the rail line to be affordable.

“If it’s to have public support, the fares on HS2 must be affordable and comparable with the rest of the fare system on the railway network,” he said.

Even some Conservative MPs were wary of the project with many having received letters of complaint from constituents who live in areas where new tracks will be laid.

Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, said HS2 will become an “albatross round the neck” of the government and called it “unloved, unwanted and grossly mismanaged.”