The wrong track | 7 February 2019

No one is in any doubt about the problem facing Britain’s railways. Over the past decade, rail fares have risen twice as fast as salaries. Yet across the national network, overcrowding is at record levels, cancellations are spiralling and passenger dissatisfaction is at a ten-year high. Yet ministers are about to start pouring £4.5 billion a year, every year for a decade, into building a single new railway route: HS2. To put this into perspective, the amount annually maintaining and upgrading the rest of the rail network is £6 billion. It’s a trap that we can, even now, avoid.

Much has changed since the scheme was launched in 2010. Official cost estimates have almost doubled — from £33 billion to £56 billion. And even this might be modest: independent industry experts put the eventual bill above £100 billion. If true, then Britain will have achieved a world record — the most expensive railway ever built.