Another take on the HS2 rail theory
Alan Marshall’s letter of July 27 is misleading. For example, it points out that after the war the rail network lost nearly half its route miles. However, we do not read that the closed lines carried an insignificant proportion of the nation’s rail passengers or that closures had no effect on the capacity of the remaining core network. Instead Mr Marshall creates the reverse, and entirely wrong, impression.
As to the capacity argument in support of HS2, I comment, firstly, the average Virgin train has only 160 passengers aboard, sufficient to fill a couple of carriages. Secondly, one expects congestion at peak times. If there were none then rolling stock would be (even more) heavily underused at other times. Thirdly, there is sufficient length for 16-carriage trains at all but village and small town stations. In any case if platforms are too short at a few locations then it is would be no great problem for passengers in end coaches to walk to the more central ones. Fourthly, price is usually used to balance supply and demand. Put prices up and demand goes down along with subsidy. That is perhaps the most sensible way to solve the capacity problem, supposing there is one. After all, the railways are used overwhelmingly by the better off while requiring subsidy amounting to £200 per year from every household in the land.
The high speed network out to Leeds and Manchester will cost £49 billion after adding the trains and tax, so conveniently left out of the headline cost of £33bn. Worse still, supposing the ludicrously high passenger forecasts arise (requiring up to eighteen 1,000-seat trains per hour in each direction) the financial loss after accruing fares out to the remote year of 2093 will be more than £50 billion, or £2,000 for every household in the land. How many jobs will that destroy in that part of the economy that makes a profit? In short, this high speed rail proposal is barking mad – they tried it on a grand scale in Spain and look where it got them. That’s right, broke as brass monkeys. - Paul F Withrington, director of Transport-watch.
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Saturday 25 May 2013
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