News Media

1. Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 May 2013

   Yorkshire Evening Post, 22 May 2013 "Wakefield Council chiefs have revealed they are currently not supporting the Government’s HS2 rail link proposal. Council leader Cllr Peter Box told a meeting of the council’s cabinet committee that the council could not support the project. Members of the Cabinet believe that the economic case for HS2 has not been made and the investment would be better spent directly in the district tackling issues including road maintenance “The cost per mile of HS2 has been identified as between £130m and £160m, with 11.4miles going through our district. “At a minimum, this would be a massive £1.48bn that could, if invested in Wakefield, make a real difference to the district, for example bringing our highways up to scratch and building new infrastructure.”

2. Beleben, 22 May 2013

   Beleben, 22 May 2013 "Stand up for HS2. People must stand up for Britain’s high speed rail project. The country’s most crowded railways are the London commuter services into Waterloo, Victoria, London Bridge, Liverpool Street, and Paddington. Building the HS2 line to the West Midlands and beyond would take billions of pounds of investment away from the most crowded parts of the legacy rail network, which is used by far more people. So redirecting funds to HS2 would entail more people standing, for longer. And HS2 is not relevant for most people’s rail journeys in the Midlands, North, and Scotland. As can be seen from the National Rail Travel Survey, the vast majority of their trips are short distance intra-regional."

3. The Business Desk.com, 22 May 2013

   TheBusinessDesk.com, 22 May 2013 "HS2 plans threaten UK Mail's Birmingham distribution hub. LOGISTICS group UK Mail is holding talks with the Department for Transport regarding the possible relocation of its major distribution facility in Birmingham. The depot in Wolseley Drive lies in the path of the proposed HS2 rail line and the company is understood to be in negotiations with the department regarding a possible compensation package." By Duncan Tift

4. Birmingham Mail, 22nd May 2013

   Birmingham Mail, 22nd May 2013. "Birmingham small businesses think HS2 is a waste of money. Firms believe £33bn high-speed link will not help economy away from the south east. A poll of 2,000 small Birmingham businesses revealed two-thirds believe the £33 billion HS2 high-speed rail link is a waste of money."  "Bosses think money would be better spent supporting city businesses, rather than infrastructure companies and manufacturers of the high-speed trains, some of which are based abroad. Almost 85% of the firms also reckon the rail link would do little to improve communication as they already effectively communicate using email, instant messenger and Skype. Some 64% said high-speed internet access and e-commerce sites had done more for their businesses than the costly high-speed rail link to their city will do" by Catherine Lillington

5. Telegraph, 21 May 2013

   Telegraph, 21 May 2013. "HS2: high speed rail could lead to train cuts elsewhere, ministers warned. Major towns and cities and are in danger of losing up to half their train services to London unless the Government overhauls its plans for high speed rail, ministers have been warned. The Daily Telegraph has learned that Virgin Trains has told Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, that the current strategy to run 225mph trains to Birmingham from 2026 is in danger of resulting in drastic cuts elsewhere." By David Milward

6. Express, 21 May 2013

   Express, 21 May 2013. " High Speed rail route will cost too much. MANY billions could be saved if the planned High Speed rail route were scrapped. The House of Commons public accounts committee now says the new line is unlikely to be value for money but the Government insists it should go ahead. HS2 has all the hallmarks of a vanity project by a Government desperate for something to boast about." By Peter Hill

7. Guardian, 20 May 2013

   Guardian, 20 May 2013, "Let's forget HS2 and invest in high-speed broadband instead. The government should kill its absurd rail plan and lay an optical fibre network – it's cheaper and would be the ultimate economic boost.  It would probably cost a little less than HS2, but it would bring far greater benefits both in the short and long term.
   Start with the obvious ones. Building HS2 will, it's true, be an economic pump-primer: it'll generate billions in construction. However, so will digging the channels and stringing up the lines needed for optical cable. But whereas the immediate construction benefit from HS2 will be felt in a very limited corridor (and blight the lives of people who live there), installing optical fibre won't push anyone out of their house, and would produce benefits nationwide. It would be the ultimate economic boost, but without any of the drawbacks, and with the advantage that most of the economic activity (in terms of people doing physical work) will be in rural areas, which need it more than overserved cities." By Charles Arthur

8. Wakefield Express, 19 May 2013

   Wakefield Express, 19 May 2013. "HS2 to bring 150 jobs but what's the cost? Controversial plans for a high-speed rail network would bring 150 jobs to the area. A report to Wakefield Council's cabinet committee on Tuesday said a new maintenance depot for HS2 has been proposed at Crofton. But rows over the validity of the network broke out again this week when a report by the National Audit Office found government ministers had underestimated its costs by about £3bn. And campaigners are still furious about the impact the proposed route would have on historical sites at Wintersett, Walton and Altofts."

9. Sunday Mirror, 19 May 2013

   Sunday Mirror, 19 May 2013. "Now we have proof nationalised railways are better run, invest more and save taxpayers cash... a recent audited report of the East Coast line found the nationalised train service achieved record-breaking customer satisfaction, invested £17million in stations, trains, depots and technology, introduced 19 new services and last year delivered the best operational performance on the route since records began in 1999. Virgin Trains, on the other hand, has been getting worse. Last year it recorded its worst performance since 2009 and lost the West Coast franchise. And what about finances? Virgin has paid £382million in dividends to share- holders over the past 10 years. But the nationalised DOR has paid £640million back to its shareholders – the taxpayers!" By John Prescott

10. Telegraph, 19 May 2013

    Telegraph, 19 May 2013. "True harm of HS2 'hidden by minister'. Simon Burns, the transport minister, and his top civil servant have been accused of misleading Parliament and campaign groups in an effort to boost the controversial HS2 rail scheme... The documents, draft "environmental statements" for HS2, were slipped out the same day last week as a damning National Audit Office report into the project, and have so far gone almost unnoticed. The documents also say that HS2's first phase, from London to Birmingham, will demolish factories and businesses employing 11,000 people, 7,600 of them directly working on the premises and a further 3,350 in supply chains." By Andrew Gilligan

11. Guardian, 17 May 2013

    Guardian, 17 May 2013. "Divorce from Waitrose now the only risk for Ocado... Dear government, your new proposed high-speed railway is an economic turkey. Every time the numbers are updated or corrected, the cost/benefit advantage becomes smaller. Some of the data in your model is 10 years out of date. And the claim that the north-south divide would be closed is unproven. Of course, the National Audit Office didn't actually call HS2 a turkey. It prefers phrases like "the strategic case should be better developed at this stage". But, if a company were proposing a project with the economic characteristics of HS2, the shareholders would be in uproar." By Nils Pratley

12. Express & Star, 18 May 2013

    Express & Star, 18 May 2013. "HS2 will slash train services in Black Country and Staffs, warns boss... In an exclusive interview with the Express & Star Mr Collins said that Virgin Trains had a 'real concern about HS2' which is due to start operating 225mph trains between London and Birmingham from 2026. The West Coast Main Line connects London and Scotland through Birmingham, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton and Stafford stations. Mr Collins said: "We need the extra capacity on the rail lines. Unfortunately the way that HS2 is being done is an engineering solution looking for a problem. If it carries on it won't properly integrate with the railway system."

13. The Engineer, 17 May 2013

    The Engineer, 17 May 2013. "We're still in the dark over high-speed rail. Another day, another voice criticising the government's plans for high-speed rail... Yesterday's report concluded that the Department for Transport has put a high emphasis on the journey-time savings without clearly showing how this will benefit the economy, particularly outside of London. You don't need to convince The Engineer that the plans for HS2 and the reasons for building it haven't been laid out clearly enough – we've been saying so for a year. The NAO report really just underlines the point that what's needed is more information." By Stephen Harris

14. Chesterfield Post, 16th May 2013

    Chesterfield Post, 16th May 2013. "Local MP Speaks Of HS2 Concerns Voiced In Parliament... Speaking in the Queen's Speech debate in Parliament on May 15th, Natascha (left) set out her concerns about the Government's economic growth strategy in relation to High Speed 2, outlining her main concerns about how government policy has affected the daily lives of her constituents in Renishaw, Killamarsh and Staveley. n her speech, Natascha criticised the Government on their lack of consultation, the lack of any clear economic case for HS2 and the fact that almost £800m of taxpayers money has already been spent on a scheme that is not even off the ground."

15. BBC News, 17 May 2013_1

    BBC News, 17 May 2013. "Quantifying the benefits of HS2. The creation of a high-speed rail line from London to the north of England will produce quantifiable benefits to society, the government believes. It has put this figure at £48.2bn for the whole project - significantly higher than its estimate of the cost, which is £25.7bn. But critics have questioned the assumptions underlying the estimate of likely benefits. So how did the government arrive at this sum?" By Ed Lowther

16. BBC News, 17 May 2013

    BBC News, 17 May 2013. "Quantifying the benefits of HS2. The creation of a high-speed rail line from London to the north of England will produce quantifiable benefits to society, the government believes. It has put this figure at £48.2bn for the whole project - significantly higher than its estimate of the cost, which is £25.7bn. But critics have questioned the assumptions underlying the estimate of likely benefits. So how did the government arrive at this sum?" By Ed Lowther

17. beleben, 18 May 2013

    beleben, 18 May 2013. "Virgin on the ridiculous. West Coast Main Line services through the West Midlands would halve if the HS2 scheme went ahead, believes Tony Collins, chief executive of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains... Mr Collins said: "We need the extra capacity on the rail lines. Unfortunately the way that HS2 is being done is an engineering solution looking for a problem."If it carries on it won't properly integrate with the railway system."

18. beleben, 17 May 2013_1

    beleben, 17 May 2013. "Spin to noise ratio. Despite criticism from the National Audit Office, the Department for Transport is 'kicking on with the development of plans for the High Speed 2 rail scheme', the Construction Index reported... BBC radio's You and Yours discussion with Arup's Richard Greer gave the impression that the noise control would largely consist of nothing more than wooden fences. So much for 'hi-tech noise reduction'. In reality, the best way to keep the noise down from 200 mph trains, is the same way as to keep electricity consumption and carbon emissions down — namely, don't run them at 200 mph."

19. beleben, 17 May 2013

    beleben, 17 May 2013. "Shiny beast (fat cat puller). Many economists like riding high speed trains, but can't come up with a lot of economics to 'back that up', wrote BBC Newsnight's Stephanie Flanders (16 May 2013). "... Henry Overman, an LSE economist who has advised the Department of Transport on some of these issues, has written a useful summary of all this. It was written before the Department revised its case but the basic arguments still seem relevant. At the time of the Eddington Review in 2006, he says the benefit-cost ratio for HS2 put it in the bottom fifth of investment projects that the Department for Transport had on its books. (And that is when the benefits of the first part of the project were said to be much higher than they are now)."

20. Sentinel, 17 May 2013

    Sentinel, 17 May 2013. "Staffordshire council chief voices doubts over HS2 project... A National Audit Office report says it is 'too early' to say if the proposals to run trains at speeds of up to 225mph between London and Birmingham will achieve value for money. County council leader Philip Atkins said: "The report from the national audit office asks a lot of questions and residents affected by the proposals need clear answers. The watchdog says it is unclear how HS2 will fulfil promises to transform economies and this is certainly the case in Staffordshire – as there are no economic benefits to the county." By Richard Ault