A NEW campaigning group supporting the construction of High Speed 2 has been launched only a day or so since the transport secretary dismissed the latest report from the anti-HS2 Taxpayers’ Alliance as ‘spurious’.
The new group, called ‘Yes to High Speed Rail’ has the backing of many business leaders.
Its campaign director is David Begg, who chaired the former Commission for Integrated Transport.
Professor Begg said: “We are united by a belief that high speed rail will significantly help Britain’s economy, creating jobs and boosting parts of the country that need it, particularly in the Midlands and the North. We also believe that it will make ordinary passengers’ lives easier by freeing up capacity on existing lines, bringing better services to more people.”
The anti-HS2 Taxpayers’ Alliance has already been the subject of criticism from the Department for Transport, after a new TA report claimed that towns and cities away from the future High Speed lines would suffer from deteriorating services and fewer trains because investment would be diverted away from the ‘classic’ network.
Matthew Sinclair, the director of the Alliance, said: “High speed rail isn’t the right way of getting the capacity we need. The project is set to cost taxpayers a fortune and it is increasingly clear it will be a huge white elephant. While politicians are holding out the promise of a faster journey for a fortunate few, huge numbers of people will face slower and less frequent services with more overcrowding. Everyone will still have to pay the hefty bill.”
But a DfT spokesman responded: ‘This is complete nonsense, largely based around speculation, guesswork and spurious crystal-ball gazing about our future plans for investment in the existing railways,’ while transport secretary Philip Hammond added: “It’s perfectly possible to invest in major strategic rail projects and still invest in other rail projects.”
The clash has come following a warning from Chiltern Railways chairman Adrian Shooter that ‘super-rich’ people in the Chilterns are pouring money into anti-HS2 campaigning. He told a conference in Birmingham that he deplored their stance, which was based only on ‘narrow self interest’.