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Sixteen years after Britain’s first high-speed rail service was launched, an official authorities evaluation into the financial influence of HS1 on the south-east has concluded the £7.3bn scheme supplied “poor worth for cash”.
The report, which was sat on by ministers for 2 years, comes at a clumsy time for the federal government because it struggles to forestall additional price overruns and delays on the a lot bigger HS2 scheme from London to Birmingham.
HS1, which hyperlinks London St Pancras Worldwide station with the Channel Tunnel and Kent, was opened in 2007 after receiving the go-ahead in 1991. It was offered on the time as a regeneration plan for the south-east, promising quicker journey instances and elevated rail capability.
“The place to begin for a price for cash evaluation is that HS1 offers poor worth for cash,” mentioned the government-commissioned report by Steer Consulting, an advisory group arrange by Jim Steer.
Steer is an advocate for high-speed rail who helped spur the launch of the present HS2 railway undertaking greater than a decade in the past.
The research mentioned that worldwide passenger numbers utilizing HS1 had been decrease than forecast on the time the undertaking was authorized, and that it had didn’t ship the financial advantages to the area that had been promised.
Though HS1 boosted inhabitants development in Ashford and Canterbury, this was “largely related to elevated commuting to London”, mentioned the report, which was launched by the federal government in June.
The outcome was that “native financial indicators, resembling GVA [gross value added] per capita, haven’t elevated considerably in contrast with peer places, which haven’t benefited from HS1”, it added.
The federal government is battling tips on how to proceed with the brand new HS2 railway, which was initially supposed to attach London with Europe and Scotland however has since been scaled again to run between the capital and Birmingham.
The associated fee has soared to no less than £80bn, whereas there may be nonetheless no plan for tips on how to get trains into Euston station in central London regardless of demolition work beginning on the location practically a decade in the past.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander admitted final month that the undertaking can be delayed by a number of extra years. The federal government additionally revealed that HS2 could initially need to run at slower speeds than anticipated to forestall additional delay to its opening.
Andrew Gilligan, a former Conservative transport adviser and head of transport at Coverage Change think-tank, mentioned: “This research, primarily based on greater than a decade of real-world proof, disproves the overhyped claims in regards to the financial advantages of high-speed rail.”
He added that HS1 was nonetheless “a a lot better undertaking than HS2, costing two-thirds much less per mile in actual phrases”.
HS2 price taxpayers £7.7bn in 2024, 57 per cent greater than was spent on native public transport throughout your complete nation final yr, in line with official figures. The road is not anticipated to open till the mid- to late-2030s.
HS1 was offered in November 2010 to a consortium of personal buyers on a concession from the UK authorities to run the road for 30 years for £2.1bn. It’s now owned by buyers together with HICL Infrastructure and Equitix.
Renamed London St Pancras Highspeed, it has just lately supplied monetary incentives to operators to run companies between London and mainland Europe. It goals to spice up demand after its personal research discovered that it may improve worldwide passenger numbers from 1,800 an hour to almost 5,000.
London St Pancras Highspeed mentioned it had “introduced an formidable development incentive scheme . . . which incentivises a rise in companies, passengers and new locations, and encourages better use of present stations domestically within the south-east”.
The Division for Transport mentioned HS1 had efficiently delivered on its aims, greater than doubling capability for worldwide rail companies.
It added that the report had “methodological limitations”, resembling not taking a look at regeneration impacts in London or wider, longer-term financial results of the undertaking.
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