| Abstrakt: |
High Speed Two (HS2) is the most ambitious and most expensive single transport project ever attempted in the UK - and, increasingly, one of the most controversial. The planned Y-shaped rail network, connecting London with the principal provincial cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds, has risen in cost to a projected £42.6 billion. Vocal critics assert that the projections of future demand are exaggerated, that additional capacity could be secured more cheaply and equally by improvements to the existing, recently-upgraded West Coast Main Line, and that projections of time-savings ignore the value of working time on the train. Increasingly it appears that the economic appraisal of the scheme may turn on the indirect benefits it may have on regional development and urban regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
