BIRMINGHAM Chamber of Commerce has dismissed a report claiming that HS2 could cost £80 billion as 'short sighted' and based on 'wild guesses'.
The claims were made by the free-market think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, which condemned the High Speed plan for its lack of genuinely green credentials. The report's author, Dr Richard Wellings, also suggested that the costs would soar because of associated transport schemes which would be needed to provide links to HS2 stations in the provinces, such as a westward extension of the Nottingham tram system.
However, the IEA did not explain what would happen on the existing network in the absence of HS2 to take some of the load off the West Coast Main Line, which is already close to capacity. The Office of Rail Regulation has recently refused Virgin permission to run trains to Shrewsbury because it said the additional trains to and from Euston could damage the route's already fragile performance.
Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, said: “The IEA is a London-based economic think tank that champions the ‘small state’ so it was never likely to support HS2. The IEA do not set out how they have done their sums to arrive at the [extra] £30 billion to give the £80 billion total. Their figures are not based on evidence. It's a wild guess, which they effectively concede".
He added: “Overall the report is in many areas flimsy and unsubstantiated and no account is given to the disastrous results of not building HS2. They ignore the broader impact of the gridlock on the West Coast Main Line that will result if we do nothing."
The Department for Transport has already dismissed the IEA's alleged findings, saying that without the new High Speed line, 'key rail routes connecting London, the Midlands and the North will be overwhelmed'.