HS2: A long way to go

By Jordan Marshall2020-02-19T06:00:00

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Source: Alamy

Why are costs higher than on other high-speed lines around the world, how can the railway avoid Crossrail’s mistakes – and how much of it will really go ahead?

“Even before HS2 has properly begun, the budget has more than doubled and it’s more than 10 years behind schedule. So, it is really important the government gets a grip on that.”

So says Sadiq Khan, the London mayor who has seen first-hand how drastically and quickly a major rail project can go off the tracks. Khan and London’s experience with Crossrail has done little to quell concerns about the tentatively approved £100bn HS2 project, as months of headlines have pointed out all the ways major infrastructure projects can go awry.

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