IET warns High Speed rail plans are flawed

The IET’s response to the HS2 proposals identifies a number of factual omissions which call into question the economic, business and environmental case for the project.

IET spokesman Jeremy Acklam said: “I’m very surprised by the UK government’s announcement, not least because it shows that they have put the cart before the horse. If we just look at the economic case, the comparators used in the analysis are inconsistent and do not represent the best realistic alternatives against which HS2 should have been judged. That alone is cause for concern, but then there are engineering, environmental, and business concerns to also take into account. We had hoped that the Secretary of State’s announcement would have addressed these vital areas of concern, which we flagged up some time ago.”

The concerns cited by the IET fall into four categories:

Environmental
HS2 may not reduce carbon emissions, something subsequently recommended by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee, which suggested HS2 ‘should not be promoted as a carbon reduction scheme’.

Engineering
Lack of justification for an infrastructure design speed of 400km/h given the significant cost and energy consumption.

Economic
There is insubstantial evidence presented to suggest that time spent on trains is wasted or that HS2 will reduce the UK’s North-South economic divide. This undermines the economic case considerably.

Business
Why HS2 was considered in isolation to other factors when the economic impact of a high-speed line has a direct link to the economic viability of other routes. For example, no post-HS2 route plans have been presented for the West Coast Main Line.

In addition, the uncertainty about passenger forecasts over such a long period should be factored in; this does not appear to have happened with the current HS2 plans.