HS2 supporters ignore the adverse facts (From Bucks Free Press)

HS2 supporters ignore the adverse facts

9:00am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Your Letters

I WAS interested to read the letter by the Campaign Manager for Yes to HS2 last week.

He emphasises lazy standards of journalism in referring to HS2 as “A line from London to Birmingham” and points out that “the first phase of HS2 will provide services all the way north to Glasgow from day one”, including Liverpool and Manchester “set out clearly in the consultation documents released early in 2011”.

What he does not say is that since these documents were released the plans for journey times to Liverpool have been reduced downwards. The Liverpool Daily Post has reported that the link with the West Coast Main Line has been moved further south to near Lichfield.

This means that while the journey time to Manchester remains the same, the journey time to Liverpool is increased: “High-speed trains (HS2) from the capital were expected to take just 16 minutes longer to reach Liverpool than Manchester, once the second stage of the £32bn project – from Birmingham to Manchester – is completed, in 2032. That difference in journey times has now more than doubled to 38 minutes, a potentially clinching factor for any business deciding where to set up in the North West.”

This seems typical of proponents of HS2, who always cite favourable factors and ignore adverse ones. If anyone is interested in seeing the full article, which includes other misrepresented ‘facts’, it was published in the Liverpool Daily Post for February 2.

Andrea Polden, Sunnyside Road, Chesham