Written evidence from Mr M Rawson (HS20001)

EXECUTIVE SMMARY

(1)      Government & HS2

(2)      The Claims & The Reality

(3)   Major Components of an Extension to the Rail Network

(4)   The Suggested Alternative to HS2

(5)   Request to the Committee

I am a retired Metropolitan Police Traffic Patrol Sergeant. Since 1996 I have travelled many thousands of miles on Britain’s railways indulging my passion for trains.

I have no connection with any organisation, I have no conflict of interest to declare and I am unaffected by the route of HS2.

                                                                 EVIDENCE

Sir

(1)   The government has made a number of spurious claims in its efforts to convince the public of the need to spend around £42billion on a High Speed Rail Line between London and the West Midlands & The North of England. The project known as HS2.

In seeking to justify the enormous cost of HS2 the government has been less than honest with the electorate. With the exception of increased capacity and a decrease in some journey times there are no benefits to be had from this project.

It cannot have escaped the Committee’s attention, when first announcing the project, the government’s emphasis was centred on the time saving between London and Birmingham?

When this did not resonate with the public, government changed tact and made ‘increased capacity’ the primary justification for spending vast sums of money on the project.

The moment government admitted the new line was about capacity and not speed it undermined its claim 225mph – 250 mph (360kph – 400kph) trains are essential for future train travel in this country.

(2)   An examination of the claims and the reality.

HS2 will slash carbon emissions when large numbers of people, from The Midlands &    The North of England travelling to the continent, abandon the airlines and switch to High Speed Rail.

HS2, planned to terminate at London Euston, WILL NOT CONNECT TO THE EUROPEAN HIGH SPEED RAIL NETWORK.

People will not switch from plane to train and will continue to fly from their regional airports. There will be NO REDUCTION IN CARBON EMISSIONS.

HS2 will provide Direct High Speed Rail services from The Midlands & The North of England into Heathrow Airport removing the need for many connecting domestic flights from regional airports reducing carbon emissions.

There is to be no spur from the High Speed Line in Buckinghamshire into Heathrow Airport. People from The Midlands & The North of England, flying long haul from Heathrow, will have the option to take a High Speed Train to a station in West London change to a CROSSRAIL service and, from a station in Heathrow, access their required terminal.

Does government seriously believe people will choose to carry luggage onto trains when they have the option to check their bags at their regional airport and collect them at their final destination?

If the airlines feel threatened by the train they will reduce their prices for domestic connecting flights.

As people will always choose the easier option there will be no reduction in short haul connecting flights and NO REDUCTION IN CARBON EMISSIONS.

It should be noted the UK has recently agreed to a reduction in carbon emissions. HS2 not only makes no contribution to that commitment but actually contributes to an increase because the higher the speed the greater amount of energy required. HS2 contradicts the government’s claim to be doing everything to reduce our carbon footprint!

HS2 will drastically reduce journey times between London, The Midlands and Northern Cities.

This claim is partially true because journey times between London and Birmingham and Manchester, and calling points in between, will be reduced.

Journey times between London and Yorkshire cities will not be reduced.

Today, the journey time between London & Leeds (on the East Coast Route) is 131 minutes.

VTEC (Virgin Trains East Coast) recently awarded the East Coast franchise, is committed to reducing the journey time to 117 minutes.

Based upon figures on the HS2 Ltd web site the journey times for HS2 from London to Birmingham will be 49 minutes and Birmingham to Leeds 57 minutes making a total of 106 minutes. (it is not known if the quoted times include dwell times at the five intermediate stations – if not, then 15 minutes must be added making the total 121 minutes – 3 minutes per stop).

At best HS2 saves 11 minutes. At worst HS2 takes 4 minutes longer than the East Coast Route!

Government has stated a premium will not be charged for HS2 but this is in direct contravention of its stated policy, the passenger must pay more and the taxpayer less, for the railways!

Why would anyone choose to pay a premium for a saving of 11 minutes and, for those arriving in London, experience delays and frustration in relation to their onward journey? (See (3) (b) below.

HS2 will improve connectivity between Northern Cities.

This is a ludicrous claim as can be seen when looking at the route of HS2. The High Speed Line is to split just north of Birmingham with one branch to Manchester and the other to Leeds meaning the distance between the two cities is about SIX times longer than the existing (east – west) Trans-Pennine Route.

HS2 will NOT improve connectivity between these two major northern cities which is the reason government now proposes an improvement to northern cities connectivity in a new project known as HS3.

(3)   It is suggested there are THREE components to a major rail infrastructure project involving the capitol. HS2 fails on each count.

(a)   The Choice of Route of a New Railway.

(b)   The impact a New Line will have on the capitol.

(c)    Whether 250mph (400kph) are desirable, necessary and affordable.

(a)   There is nothing logical or sensible about the choice of route for HS2. Phase 1, known as the Chiltern Route between London & Birmingham, either destroys areas of outstanding natural beauty or costs enormous amounts of money tunnelling beneath them.

The route means ALL High Speed trains between London & Manchester and London & Leeds travel via Birmingham placing constraints and limitations on the train operating company (TOC).

It seems certain The Chiltern Route was chosen when it was planned to build the spur from the High Speed Line in Buckinghamshire into Heathrow Airport. When this plan was scrapped any possible justification for The Chiltern Route ended.

In respect of Phase 2 of the project there is, yet again, little logic in the choice of route. It has already been seen the route makes no substantial improvement in connectivity of northern cities.

It is interesting to note a section of the Phase 2 Route effectively follows the M1 Motorway between Toton and Sheffield (see (4) paragraph 3)

(b)   The decision to terminate the new line at London Euston suggests the effects of HS2 on London have not been thought through.

If government is right about ridership of HS2, the fourteen trains per hour each carrying 1100 passengers, could bring almost a quarter of a million people into Euston in a sixteen hour period.

Government hopes, to relieve overcrowding at Euston, many passengers from the north will leave the High Speed service at Old Oak Common in west London and join a CROSSRAIL service for their onward journey.

This is a questionable policy and, if HS2 is ever be built, will certainly lead to justifiable criticism when trains, whose advertised destination is Euston, are terminated at OOC for safety reasons.

The knock on effect on services to the north will be considerable as the trains will not be at Euston!

The Committee will recall the recent statement by Sir Peter Hendy, London’s Transport Commissioner, in which he made very clear the one million growth in the capitol’s population over the next decade will leave the capitol’s transport network ‘overwhelmed’. (The Guardian September 12 2014).

Assuming the government is 50% correct in its estimate of ridership of HS2, the Committee is asked to consider what effects over 100,000 people arriving in the capitol, during a sixteen hour period, will have upon an already overwhelmed London Underground?

Euston has only two tube lines and arriving HS2 passengers may find much of the time saved on their High Speed journey is spent queuing to join overcrowded tube trains!

Whist huge sums may be spent on upgrading Euston the real test is whether there will be sufficient tube trains to cope with the huge increase in demand.

It is suggested terminating the new line at Euston is at best, irresponsible and at worst, dangerous.

The decision to terminate the line at Euston continues the Victorian policy of requiring many to leave their train at one station, cross London by tube, bus or cab, to join another train to their destination.

Hardly efficient in the HIGH SPEED era of the 21st century!

(c)    Government claims its ‘HS2 or nothing – other countries have High Speed Trains and so Britain must have them’.

But are trains travelling at 250mph (400kph) really necessary in our relatively         small country where towns and cities are not separated by long distances?

The Committee may find the following helpful:-

              A 100 mile Journey at 240mph (4 miles minute) takes 25 minutes.

       A 100 mile Journey at 140mph (2.3 miles per minute) takes 43 minutes.

       Can a saving of 18 minutes really justify the enormous price tag of HS2? Can it justify                                                                           the destruction of so much property and areas of outstanding natural beauty?

Government claims HS2 is vital to the economy as will it create enormous numbers of jobs – any rail infrastructure project of this magnitude will create huge numbers of jobs.

(4)   If the foregoing leaves the Committee feeling HS2 is a flawed project, which fails to deliver everything required of a major rail improvement project for the enormous cost, it is hoped it will consider a suggested alternative.

A new route for 140mph (225kph) Tilting Trains (combining HS2 and HS3 into one High Speed Rail Network) whose construction and operation does not destroy areas of outstanding natural beauty, improves connectivity between cities, delivers benefits not disadvantages to the capitol with ‘through’ London services to connect the north with the south coast.

The proposed route of the alternative to HS2 follows the traditional transport route between London and The North, the route chosen by those who built the canals in the 18th century, the railways in the 19th and the motorways in the 20th century.

The new line is built alongside the M1 Motorway from London to Leeds.

At Junction 19 (a triangle design) the line to the north-west is built alongside the M6 Motorway to Birmingham and Manchester.

No part of this proposed route destroys areas of outstanding natural beauty. All trains operating on this route do not travel via Birmingham but a connection between Leeds and Birmingham is provided for by the triangle design at J19.

The capitol would benefit from the new line if it were to be built in a tunnel from the southern end of the M1 Motorway to Clapham Junction in south London.

With two calling points in the capitol. KINGS CROSS/ST PANCRAS (6 tube lines, National, International and Suburban Services) AND Farringdon (CROSSRAIL Services to Heathrow Airport, Liverpool Street, The City & Canary Wharf) passengers are offered many convenient onward journey options.

The benefits of 140mph Tilting Trains are numerous, not least during the construction stages as the tracks follow natural contours of the land. Very High Speed Trains (225 – 250mph) require ‘straight as an arrow’ tracks.

This major extension to the rail network provides the opportunity for the introduction of ONE DESIGN 140mph Tilting Inter-City trains onto the entire network. As track and signalling is upgraded around the country ALL regions benefit from the investment. 140mph becomes the norm on the country’s main line rail network.

One Design of Inter-City Express Train achieves economy of scale with lower maintenance costs as demonstrated by the Low Cost Airlines.

140mph (2.3 miles per minute) is HIGH SPEED.

The new railway almost doubles the capacity on the East & West Coast Main Lines.

If the extension to Kings Cross/St Pancras Station is built below the existing station, ‘through’ and ‘terminus’ platforms offer flexibility of service and, together with Farringdon interchange station, removes the dangers of overcrowding in the capitol.

The design of the new railway, which is a natural extension of the existing network, brings enormous benefits to the ever growing rail freight industry.

A major benefit of the route is the opportunity to build a new line from a point in Bedfordshire, via Luton and Stansted Airports, to the HS1 (Eurostar) tracks in Kent to offer people from The Midlands & The North of England ‘direct’ rail services to the continent. This service would use the same Inter-City Express train with a higher speed capability for the European section of the journey.

This evidence contains serious allegations and it is hoped the Committee will feel it is in the public interest to provide the government and members of the HS2 Team the opportunity to respond.

Mike Rawson

5 January 2015