HS3: A costly vanity project
23 June 2014
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Dr Richard Wellings sheds doubt on HS3
Commenting on George Osborne’s proposals to build a third high-speed rail link, Dr Richard Wellings, Deputy Editorial Director and Head of Transport at the Institute of Economic Affairs said:
“The relatively short distances between northern cities mean that high-speed rail is an expensive and inefficient way of linking them together. Because northern conurbations are spread out geographically and include numerous different towns, high-speed trains between the largest city centres would make little difference to door-to-door journey times for a high proportion of travellers.
“The Chancellor should be focusing on smaller-scale schemes that deliver high returns for the taxpayer or, better still, that can be financed privately, rather than concocting a headline-grabbing vanity project designed to attract votes.
“Not content with wasting tens of billions on the loss-making HS2 scheme, George Osborne is now threatening to compound the error by forcing taxpayers to fund HS3.”
To arrange an interview please contact Camilla Goodwin, Communications Officer: 0207 799 8920/ 07821 971 443
Notes to editors:
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“The relatively short distances between northern cities mean that high-speed rail is an expensive and inefficient way of linking them together. Because northern conurbations are spread out geographically and include numerous different towns, high-speed trains between the largest city centres would make little difference to door-to-door journey times for a high proportion of travellers.
“The Chancellor should be focusing on smaller-scale schemes that deliver high returns for the taxpayer or, better still, that can be financed privately, rather than concocting a headline-grabbing vanity project designed to attract votes.
“Not content with wasting tens of billions on the loss-making HS2 scheme, George Osborne is now threatening to compound the error by forcing taxpayers to fund HS3.”
To arrange an interview please contact Camilla Goodwin, Communications Officer: 0207 799 8920/ 07821 971 443
Notes to editors:
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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