Who’s Afraid of Fast Trains?

Reading Brother Blackburn’s post on high-speed rail I was, I admit, surprised to find so many Coffee House commenters backing the project. I had – unworthily! – assumed most would be against it. And if HSR stops at Birmingham I would oppose it too. Indeed, I think that if HSR is to go ahead it needs to reach Scotland as well as Manchester and Leeds while another line should link Cardiff and Bristol with London too.

David suggests that the idea of a Tory-led government ignoring local protests against HSR offends the “the gentle trinity of localism, decentralisation and the big society” and of course he has a point. Nevertheless, there are some infrastructure projects that can only be led by central government and in which utilitarian considerations must play a large, even dominant, role. Trains are probably one such example.

HSR’s critics have a number of good points to make.