By Alex Klaushofer
16 July 2009
Transport experts have given a cautious response to the rail minister’s announcement that investment in a new high-speed line must go ahead despite looming public spending cuts.
In an interview with the Independent newspaper, Lord Adonis sent the Treasury a clear signal that he was not prepared to sacrifice his pet project, High Speed 2 – which will link London to Glasgow, costing an estimated £8bn – as departmental budgets shrink.
‘High-speed rail is a long-term project,’ he said. ‘If we are going to be a successful country in the twenty-first century, we are going to need a modern rail system that must include high-speed rail between our major conurbations.’
Adonis is the first minister to make a statement protecting his departmental spending, as speculation and political wrangling continues over where public spending cuts will fall.
‘The thing about high-speed lines is that it sounds good, but it’s all jam tomorrow stuff,’ said James Abbott, editor of Modern Railways magazine. ‘You don’t have to make any serious expenditure until a few years down the line.
‘The important thing is that continuing investment in the existing system should not be neglected,’ he added, citing planned urban systems such as Crossrail.
Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London, said that High Speed 2 could pose a threat to rail projects already in the pipeline.
‘If a future government were to spend money on a high-speed link, they will have less to spend on other things,’ he said.
In the absence of any economic and commercial evidence about the likely costs and benefits, no political party could claim that the high-speed link was the best kind of investment in transport, he added.
‘None can say with any scientific basis that it’s a good way of spending public money,’ he said. ‘We just don’t have the answers.’
16 July 2009
Transport experts have given a cautious response to the rail minister’s announcement that investment in a new high-speed line must go ahead despite looming public spending cuts.
In an interview with the Independent newspaper, Lord Adonis sent the Treasury a clear signal that he was not prepared to sacrifice his pet project, High Speed 2 – which will link London to Glasgow, costing an estimated £8bn – as departmental budgets shrink.
‘High-speed rail is a long-term project,’ he said. ‘If we are going to be a successful country in the twenty-first century, we are going to need a modern rail system that must include high-speed rail between our major conurbations.’
Adonis is the first minister to make a statement protecting his departmental spending, as speculation and political wrangling continues over where public spending cuts will fall.
‘The thing about high-speed lines is that it sounds good, but it’s all jam tomorrow stuff,’ said James Abbott, editor of Modern Railways magazine. ‘You don’t have to make any serious expenditure until a few years down the line.
‘The important thing is that continuing investment in the existing system should not be neglected,’ he added, citing planned urban systems such as Crossrail.
Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London, said that High Speed 2 could pose a threat to rail projects already in the pipeline.
‘If a future government were to spend money on a high-speed link, they will have less to spend on other things,’ he said.
In the absence of any economic and commercial evidence about the likely costs and benefits, no political party could claim that the high-speed link was the best kind of investment in transport, he added.
‘None can say with any scientific basis that it’s a good way of spending public money,’ he said. ‘We just don’t have the answers.’
