High Speed Railway 2 HS2 in England

¶ … Public and mass transit are issues confronting nearly every nation as well as many individual municipalities. The UK is no exception and there are currently many proposals on the docket than attempt to resolve mass transit for distance and commute that are rapid and more environmentally sustainable than individual automobile transportation. One of those transportation proposals is HS 2, a high speed train network that would connect many locations, provide rapid service, resolve issues of environmental concern, and come at a relatively high cost to individual taxpayers and central and local governments. This high cost is often seen as an extreme barrier with regard to developing large infrastructural transportation projects. In summation this work will explore the topic of the HS 2 proposal and offer both affirmative and contrary evidence to support and/or detract from that HS 2 proposal project. This work argues that though it's difficult to calculate the offset cost savings to the environment make such expenditure, as is proposed in HS 2 a valid one. Further it will argue that one of the most important aspects of the developing of infrastructural changes for mass transportation projects is serious consideration of intangible and secondary costs and benefits with regard to the environment.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 1

1 Table of Contents 1

2 Introduction 1

3 Background 2

4 Literature Review 3

5 Conclusions 3

5.1 Findings 3

5.2 Recommendations 3

6 References 4

Introduction

Transportation is one of the most important aspects of civic and economic planning. Public and mass transit are issues confronting nearly every nation as well as many individual municipalities. The UK is no exception and there are currently many proposals on the docket than attempt to resolve mass transit for distance and commute that are rapid and more environmentally sustainable than individual automobile transportation. One of those transportation proposals is HS 2, a high speed train network that would connect many locations, provide rapid service, resolve issues of environmental concern, and come at a relatively high cost to individual taxpayers and central and local governments. This high cost is often seen as an extreme barrier with regard to developing large infrastructural transportation projects. In summation this work will explore the topic of the HS 2 proposal and offer both affirmative and contrary evidence to support and/or detract from that HS 2 proposal project. The HS 2 proposal locations are listed below.

London to the West Midlands. Such a line would enable faster and enhanced services to be run on new and existing lines to Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and other destinations in the north of England and Scotland, cutting journey times and increasing capacity substantially. In the South, any new line could connect to a new Heathrow International interchange station on the Great Western main line, providing a direct 4-way interchange between the airport, the new north-south line, existing Great Western rail services and Crossrail into central London. (Department of Transport, London, 2009, p. 4)

This work will argue that though it's difficult to calculate the offset cost savings to the environment make such expenditure, as is proposed in HS 2 a valid one.

HS2 have not yet issued the technical details of the emissions that they estimate will be caused by HS2 during construction and operation. HS2 that their plans will either increase emissions by 26.5 Million Tonnes CO2 or decrease emissions by 25 Million Tonnes. (Bluespace Thinking ltd. 2010, np Section 10)

Further it will argue that one of the most important aspects of the developing of infrastructural changes for mass transportation projects is serious consideration of intangible and secondary costs and benefits with regard to the environment.

Background

The London UK Department for Transport (DfT) (2009) stresses that rail travel and rail freight use demand have improved significantly over the last 20 years (50%, and 40% conversely), that the increased passenger and freight demands require better and faster train services, that large transportation/rail infrastructure projects require significant lead time and that the regardless of the concerns regarding cost this program for developing new lines should go on, using the existing proposal locations. The background offered by the DfT and others stress that the HS 2 would be in high demand and would serve areas not currently served, especially with regard to long distance transportation at rapid rates. Though of course this affirmation does not come without controversy, as several community action organizations have openly come out against the HS 2 plan. Yet it is clear that any mass expenditure on infrastructure will obviously garner debate.

Literature Review

The debate over the particular rail line locations seems to be at the root of the controversy as some argue that certain parts of the new line proposed in HS 2 are redundant and will cause harm rather than help the nation. Savin and Wendover HS 2 argue that the benefits to cost ratio provided by the DfT and the organization in charge of planning for HS2 (HS 2 ltd.) overestimated new ridership and therefore skewed the Benefits Cost Ratio and that certain areas of the HS 2 line namely Chiltern routes are redundant and would cause environmental harm and land use harm (2010, p. 2-39). Another organization Bluespace Thinking Ltd. Argues that HS2 will create greater CO2 emissions than expected and reviews economic benefits offered by the DfT (2010). Greengauge21 argues that the existing rail lines need to be analyzed to see what their purpose and use will be after the HS 2 builds are complete (2011). Finally, BetterthanHS2 says that land use issues will be crucial on a social and economic level and have not been addressed by the official reports (Betterthanhs2.org, 2011)Yet, again all of this speculation and debate is answered by HS 2 ltd., and the DfT in several documents with substantial statistical data, including documents addressing the benefits cost ratio, analysis of ridership projections, stress on the increased demand for rapid long distance travel and the many potential social and physical benefits of the HS 2 lines. (DfT, 2009, 2011, 2011) From the collection of documents reviewed for this work the DfT and HS 2 ltd. Are clearly demonstrative of the most thorough as well as foundational infrastructural elements and do seem to be planning for the HS 2 line in a manner that considers both primary and secondary costs and benefits. DfT and HS 2 are set to a very high standard that stresses the need to be accountable and transparent in ways that other organizations are simply not and though each detractor provides compelling and important considerations the HS 2 project is clearly one that should continue to go forward.