17.07.15
Higgins: north-south transport divide a ‘disgrace’
Sir David Higgins claimed the north has been “shortchanged and taken for granted” in its transport services.
He compared the north-south transport disparity to the differences between west and east London where people are expected to “put up with” injustices in a blatant example of “national disgrace”.
The chair of HS2 Ltd said in an interview with the Guardian: “I look at expenditure per head, the pass-me-down process – the offcuts from rolling stock always end up in the north. Two hours from Birmingham to Leeds on a chugger, old crappy trains on poor railway lines.
“We would not accept that from London to Swindon, and we don’t: we insist on a huge amount of money going into commuter services.”
He said northerners have been “taken for granted”, calling the lack of investment in transport a “disgrace” resulting in a divided country.
He referred to HS2, whose first phase runs from London to Birmingham and the second phase of which carries on up to Manchester, the east Midlands and Leeds, as an attempt to remediate this divide.
Higgins claimed people are “beating up on the railways”, and suggested it was a mistake to try to upgrade London Bridge with so many passengers still trying to use it every day. He said: “The grim reality of what we should say to people is, don’t use it. Stay away, make other plans.”
HS2 itself retains solid political backing in Midland and northern cities, Sir David said: “Labour local authorities are 100% behind this. They realise how critical it is for skills and jobs in the north.”
He added that local authorities had also backed the decision to recommend that the HS2 east Midlands hub be located at Toton and praised “local ownership” as an important asset to the construction, emphasising that it is “essential this project is bipartisan”.
Speaking of the “pause” in the electrification of the Midland Main Line and TransPennine route, he said the scope had been “very much in flux”.
He blamed the change in status of Network Rail to be an official part of the public sector and especially its massive debt pile. He said: “Once it [the debt] came on balance sheet all that flexibility’s gone. That’s the most fundamental change. That’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just a change the ONS [Office for National Statistics] in its great wisdom came out with.”
Yet Higgins insisted that HS2 would not face similar problems, as an entirely new railway – many of the current problems arising from upgrading complex, busy, live railway lines. “[With HS2] you know exactly what’s [there] and you’ve got 24-hour access. Upgrading these existing assets is nightmarishly difficult,” he said.
Though HS2’s £50bn budget is still on target, he said the second phase was “less certain in terms of design, and even the final route hasn’t been determined”.
In the interview Higgins spoke highly of other infrastructure projects nationwide, calling HS2 a part of a broader strategy.
“HS2, Crossrail, HS3, the substantial investment in ground support and transport for a third runway at Heathrow, the highways programme, the National Grid, nuclear power stations. It’s going to happen. It’s not a question of will we, won’t we,” he said.