HS2

John Burns   29/09/2016 at 17:38

I can only see the Japanese wanting to supply the rolling stock. They do supply Hitachi trains to the UK. Investing in railway that few economists speak in positive tones of? Are the Japanese that stupid?

Ian   30/09/2016 at 16:37

I do find it odd that this amazing opportunity is being given such a hard sell by the UK government. Good business opportunities speak for themselves, and if it is so good for Britain, then why is it being pimped out at all? The more this goes on, the more it just looks like the UK Government is simply begging people to invest in us and no doubt, like Hinkley point, this will be at the harm to UK taxpayers.

Mikeb   30/09/2016 at 17:35

For some years, government ministers have been shuttling to and from Beijing in an attempt to persuade "cash-rich" Chinese businesses to invest in HS2 and other projects. Now, Japanese businessmen are also being targeted for the same purpose and I can therefore foresee a situation whereby HS2 might be built and operated by a consortium of Far East-led companies. It is a sad fact that British investors do not seem to have enough financial wherewithal to involve themselves in such large infrastructure projects and, to a great extent, we therefore have to rely totally upon inward investment in order to get things done.

John Jefkins   30/09/2016 at 18:57

Of course the Japanese are interested in investing or selling us trains to run on HS2. After all their own private high speed line Tokyo-Osaka line long paid back its costs from its PROFITS. John Burns is quite wrong about economists. Even the LSE economists quoted by StopHS2 say HS2 would boost the economy enough to earn around £1 billion extra tax per year (+ inflation) over its 100 year + life. That's £100b + inflation extra tax in addition to fare income, premium payments and other property rental income potential. And other economists estimated 6 times as much income. The key thing is to keep this profit in government hands. This will be a rather more profitable line than HS1 (as it links our 10 top cities rather than being just a cross border route). But like HS1 it needs to be long leased for increasingly huge rental fees over it's very long life. Those rental fees could repay construction costs in 25yrs and then repay them again (many times over) to the government owner. As with HS1, the government needs to retain the freehold.