EARLIER this month Boris Johnson decided to press ahead with the largest infrastructure project in Europe. HS2, the 160-mile-long railway will link London to Crewe using 220mph trains, yet crucially offers no journey time improvement over the remaining 240 miles of existing sinuous 125mph track to Scotland, something the Department for Transport (DfT) fails to consider. This will not make Scottish business competitive or provide timely links to other UK cities, including our nearest “global” city of London.
BBC Politics Scotland ignored HS2, yet equivalent Midlands and North West editions dedicated 30 minutes to the benefits for their areas. Mayors Burnham and Street campaigned relentlessly to ensure HS2 went ahead, unlocking the huge potential of their city regions. As Scotland remains disengaged, The Midland and Northern Powerhouse region will power on at our expense, becoming even more competitive as they rejuvenate their areas. Marianne Taylor ("The 10 billion reasons why Scots should support HS2", The Herald, February 17) outlined the indirect way Scotland could benefit via Barnett consequentials, likewise train manufacturer Talgo could create 1,000 Scottish jobs.
However, fundamentally, it’s the improved direct journey time and wealth-generating benefits we risk losing out on. Stealthily, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps indicated that the next stage of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail would likely be downgraded, with more circuitous track resulting in longer journey times – but the latter need not be the case.
Few politicians, business groups or voters understand the nuances of the next generation of very-high speed tilting trains. These would offer significantly faster journey times to cities in England and within Scotland, resulting in greater business and wealth opportunities.
What runs on the track is being overlooked by the DfT. The £2.75 billion order for 54 new HS2 trains will be decided upon later this year. In 2019 a second train manufacturer that is bidding for the HS2 contract produced a new 220mph train that can tilt. The Alstom Avelia Liberty, effectively a tilting TGV, and tilting trains from Spanish manufacturer Talgo, mean that future fast lines can be built more sensitively to avoid built up areas and be routed easily through hilly terrain, both reducing costs. These advanced trains can run faster than any UK train we use today, on upgraded existing lines by tilting in curves at speeds up to 155mph, and at 220mph on the straighter HS2 line.
MPs I've written to are beginning to see the potential. A full new line to Scotland is unlikely, but for a fraction of the price, the UK can have significantly enhanced rail travel through clever use of upgraded existing lines, shorter sections of new fast line, as in Denmark, and HS2. It is time for our leading politicians to update their technical knowledge so that taxpayers north of the Midlands can have their lives enhanced by reduced travel time and don't lose out on technology that has been developed since the HS2 design started over 10 years ago. MPs need to understand the advantage of these trains and demand the HS2 trains tilt.
Angus Munro, Edinburgh EH4.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here