News Media

1. London Society Journal, Summer 2012

   London Society Journal, Summer 2012. "High Speed Rail 2: A Boon or a Disaster for Londoners?.. In Camden, Westminster, Hillingdon, Greenford, Ruislip, north Ealing, residents' peace of mind and property values are already being undermined, tunnels or not... One original HS2 plan was for all HS2 tracks in London to be underground. That idea was jettisoned for reasons of cost. But HS2 "plans" evolve willy-nilly. With no explanation, a diversion around Primrose Hill was decided. In the latest round of HS2 mollifications, a tunnel is planned to avoid a golf course in Kenilworth at a cost of £150+ millions, another under Ruislip... The problem is repeatedly shifted from one group of residents squarely on to the shoulders of another... Properties in Ealing and Hillingdon alike have already been earmarked for compulsory purchase, even though the government has as yet no mandate to do so." by Julius Hogben

2. Beleben, 17 May 2012

   Beleben, 17 May 2012. "Are you being spun? ...unless the incumbent passenger operator(s) were ‘nobbled’ in some way, it’s likely that they would want to continue to run fast trains on WCML, competing against the high speed operator on HS2. In an un-nobbled market, they would have a strong operating cost advantage against the HS2 franchisee, and this would be particularly important for the leisure travel sector. Even if all current long distance high speed services were forcibly routed onto HS2 (e.g. by means of an ‘Integrated West Coast’ franchise), mixed traffic would still be the order of the day. Freight trains travelling at 60 mph (100 km/h) are never going to run particularly well with semi-fast passenger workings at 90 mph (145 km/h) on the same busy tracks. So the best way of decongesting the West Coast Main Line is to reconfigure North – South traffic on a network basis — the principle used in Rail Package 6."

3. Northampton Chronicle, 17 May 2012

   Northampton Chronicle, 17 May 2012. "Campaigners claim proposal for high speed rail is ‘falling apart’. CAMPAIGNERS have claimed the credibility of the HS2 rail project is ‘falling apart’ after a Government report declared it faced major risks. The compulsory assessment, carried out by the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority, issued an amber-red risk of the project going wrong – just one step away from warning it is unachieveable... Peter Deeley, chairman of South Northamptonshire Against HS2, argued the credibility of the case for HS2 was increasingly worsening, with even the Government’s civil servants recognising it is flawed... The red-amber alert was only revealed by the Department of Transport following pressure from MP Margaret Hodge in her role as chairman of the public accounts committee." By Emma Clark

4. Ealing Gazette, 17 May 2011

   Ealing Gazette, 17 May 2011. "Why HS2, if built, must be tunnelled under Ealing. HS2 is the biggest threat to people's homes, families and quality of life in north Ealing since the A40 was widened in the 1970s. The Department for Transport says that a tunnel under the residential areas of north Ealing would be too expensive, conveniently ignoring that a tunnel would cost about 0.1 per cent of the £80bn they want to spend on HS2 altogether... Twenty years ago the entire length of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1) was rerouted and tunnelled all the way through east London (16 miles). The same principle of considering affected locals first should be implemented here and now." by Poppy Bradbury

5. Coventry Telegraph, 17 May 2012

   Coventry Telegraph, 17 May 2012. "Mps and protesters demand HS2 report is published. AN ALLIANCE of MPs and action groups is demanding publication of a government report which reveals “major risks” to the HS2 rail project. t comes after top civil servants were forced to reveal an “alert” has been placed on the £33 billion project by the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority...The alert means: “Successful delivery of the project is in doubt, with major risks or issues apparent in a number of key areas. “Urgent action is needed to ensure these are addressed, and whether resolution is feasible.” by Martin Bagot

6. Derby Telegraph, 15 May 2012

   Derby Telegraph, 15 May 2012. "Why this high-speed rail line should be stopped in its tracks... Derby will be linked by HS2 to Birmingham, a mere 53km away, and to Manchester, 86km away... These short distances kill the economics of high-speed rail which, broadly speaking, are determined by a simple formula: the number of people carried by distance travelled. So linking Derby, which is already in close proximity to other main population centres, is not viable for a high-speed rail system... Derby won't be linked directly to London, meaning we will still have to travel via Birmingham so, at best, HS2 may succeed in shaving a few minutes off these times. But is this really worth £32.7billion?" By Victoria Martindale

   Victoria Martindale: Why this high-speed rail line should be stopped in its tracks

7. Beleben, 31 March 2012

   Beleben, 31 March 2012. "HS2 and Birmingham blight... The threat posed to the Meriden Gap by HS2 was made clear in Professor Andrew McNaughton’s speech at Irail 2012. On 24 March, the Daily Telegraph reported 'Up to 100,000 homes would be built on green belt in the Midlands near the controversial High Speed 2 rail route as part of a dramatic expansion of housing. The plan, disclosed by Andrew McNaughton, the chief engineer of HS2, would exploit the new and highly controversial National Planning Policy Framework, which aims to simplify Britain’s planning laws, increase economic growth and provide homes for Britain’s booming population. If it goes ahead, the development would effectively obliterate the open countryside east of Birmingham to create Britain’s longest continuous conurbation, stretching 40 miles [65 km] from Coventry to the far side of Wolverhampton.'"

8. Beleben, 14 May 2012

   Beleben, 14 May 2012.  "Marshall moonshine... [Railnews writer] Mr Marshall claimed that the ‘AGV’s ‘green credentials’ were disclosed in an analysis in an April 2009 ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) report by Richard Davies and Leigh Thompson. 'ATOC undertook the analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) impacts of High Speed Rail for Greengauge 21, the not-for-profit organisation established in 2006 to research and develop the concept of a High Speed Rail network.'.. What useful conclusions can be drawn from the ATOC ‘research’? The answer seems to be: none whatsoever."

9. Independent, 13 May 2012

   Independent, 13 May 2012. "Editor-At-Large: ... Here's an idea: Trains that work... You can tart up a station, issue young staff T-shirts with "Customer Services" written on them, but if you can't provide trains and connections that work, then you might as well be running a Hornby Dublo train set. In the Queen's Speech, there was no mention of the proposed high-speed rail link to Birmingham. Maybe it would be a good idea to get the existing system operating efficiently first." By Janet Street-Porter

10. Telegraph, 12 May 2012

    Telegraph, 12 May 2012. "How to protect ancient woodland from HS2 - just move it. The bizarre idea is one of a number of “mitigation solutions” suggested by Justine Greening, the minister in charge of the proposed rail line... However, Jonathan Spencer, a principal adviser for the Forestry Commission, said the concept of transplanting woodland was “simply not credible”. “It is not possible to recreate the soil and its unique combination of nutrients that have developed over hundreds of years,” he wrote. “A significant number of the trees would probably die in such a process. Trees are not as robust as people seem to think. It would also be very costly — a waste of money, in my view. This is futile.” By Robert Watts