We should have had high speed rail in the UK decades ago. This project is something that should have been undertaken in the era that Japan was developing the Shinkansen.

Imagine inventing the train and in 2020 you don’t have a proper highspeed infrastructure, despite being the perfect size for one

Another good point is all the ‘Express’ trains on the current lines which will be replaced by HS2 trains will open space for freight trains on the current lines. So a significant amount of the trucks you see on the motorway can be replaced by fright train. One freight train could have the same capacity as 30 HGV’s Motorways would be a lot less congested by trucks which is good for the environment and people commuting on the motorway

In the 60's motorways were built to speed up journey times and take long distance traffic from the A road network, the same thinking should have been applied to the rail network twenty years later.

HS2 Confirmed to be run by Valve. Refuses to use the number 3.

By the time we've finished talking about it, the Chinese will have planned, built and delivered half a dozen HS2 sized infrastructure projects. If we want to continue run with big boys, we need to pull our socks up.

Thanks for covering this topic. As someone who grew up in the north and now studies climate science, HS2 is exactly what the North needs from an economic, and the country as whole from an environmental, point of view. Frankly, it should have been done decades ago. And it annoys me no end to hear middle-class southerners complain that it will mean a lovely old pear tree will be felled .

High speed rail is a better alternative to driving and flying.

Ah Trains. I'm American so i don't understand any of this. All joking aside more high speed trains in service is very helpful

As a frenchman who lived in the UK for years, it was always bewildering how much the country that invented trains lacks high speed train infrastructure

Fast forward to 2060: "Government has given final approval for HS2, project fully ahead and due for completion on schedule in 2063" 😂😂😂😂

The Shinkansen, you know the hugely successful high speed rail line in japan ended up costing twice as much as originally planned plus the President of the Japanese national railways and chief engineer resigned.

High Speed rails are awesome... If You've ever been on one in China or Japan, then you know they are the best way of travel, and can do so much for the country and economy.

Please note that a ‘fare recalibration’ is not synonymous with a ‘fare reduction’.

Coming from China, my jaw dropped when I saw the construction time estimates. Granted, Chinese construction benefits from a generally lower level of rights standards than the UK, but holy heavens. The routes are both less than 300km as the crow flies, which in China wouldn't get me out of my province, and yet... Update: comparable distances would be Shanghai-Nanjing, Beijing-Qinhuangdao/Beijing-Shijiazhuang, Guangzhou-Lufeng/Guangzhou-Maoming, Shenzhen-Shaoguan, or even Chengdu-Chongqing (Yuzhong Dist.), Wuhan-Changsha/Wuhan-Nanchang, and Qingdao-Jinan. The idea that any of these would take 16-20 years is just 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

Enjoyed the video. As a former railwayman and noting how congested the existing routes are, particularly lines from Euston, this project is essential. Lots of comments, but once done I am sure it will rapidly be accepted. HS1 construction caused problems, but rapidly became the norm once opened.

At least it will provide young engineers with a job for 20+ years.

Wasn't there a cover-up of HS2's financial mismanagement resulting in the rising costs

And in the next episode explain BoJo's bridge from Scoutland to NI.

The ‘Y’ doesn’t make any sense to me. It should at least go to Edinburgh.

The most frustrating thing about this project is that the whole point of the rail is to improve the north’s economic potential. Then why start is the south, and take an extra decade to finish the northern Y... History tells us their is a particular risk that the government wouldn’t see the point in continuing it after about half of it is done, convenient.

The big issue with HS2 is the same issue with all post Thatcher government policy; the use of private companies whose priority remains profit generation. Infrastructure and public services should not be built for v profit because ultimately they're not, they make running every other industry more profitable and help an economy overall. Scrap the private nonsense and build a proper nationally owned infrastructure company to build for the benefit of the entire population, not for a handful of share holders

Do a Referendum. Apparently it’s the new British Government hobby.

"linking north and south" doesn't go north LOL

Chinese govt would have finished HS2 by now...and HS3 and HS4.

High speed rail is a good thing. Even though I live in the Netherlands, where there isn't a lot of high speed rail, I can see the benefit of a line like HS2. Fairer rail fairs and more capacity is a good thing. I'm not quite sure about the 400km/h target as it seems a little over the top. A 200-300km/h line would surely achieve these goals (and potentially much better as lower speed probably means higher capacity).

The british are very good at underestimating everything.

Good for the UK to finally join the other european countries and developing a first highspeed-Line. Central europe in general does not go for 400+ kph lines though, as those are extremely expensive. And building them takes a lot of time. For example, after the german reunification a new highspeed line was planned between Berlin and Munich, highspeed in this case means up to 300 kph. It took around 25 years to build and cost in total around 10 billion Euro. And the last few km are actually not completely 300 kph ready so trains have to slow down once they reach Bavaria. Construction to upgrade that line is still ongoing, but travel time between Berlin and Munich via train has decreased to around 4 hours in the fastest variant of train, which is actually quite comparable to a domestic flight as the munich airport is so far outside the city (local railway takes around 45 minutes between city and airport).

I have a spurious and unresearched feeling this train will be handed to private corporations for next to nothing once it's completed.

Beeching ripped out the second tracks from most of the main lines. At a stroke he trashed the network capacity.

After travelling on china's Highspeed network, Hs2 seems like fantasy. They can construct all of hs2 in 5 years at 20mil$/km. That includes the elevated concrete bridge all rail sits on to allow land below to be usable. HS2 is now looking at 182mil$/km.

Someone needs to double check every invoice submitted, a culture of “When we run out of. Money we just go back to the government for more “, Fat cat bosses have a gravy train.

The big problems I have with HS2 are: 1. It's essentially going to just turn the midlands into another boro of London, the towns in the area I grew up in (around J25 between Derby and Nottingham) is dying the death, HS2 isn't going to provide the locals any benefits and it is going to price them out of their local areas. House prices will source as London prices migrate outwards, anyone currently renting in the area is going to be forced out, as landlords will prioritize towards Londoners wanting to move out of London but commute in by HS2 every day. 2. The infrastructure to support it just isn't there. The HS2 terminal in that area is supposedly going to squeeze in to between the existing rail lines, the Trent and the A52. The roads in that area are already fit to bursting due to poor access to the M1 from most of the remaining industry and the high volume of traffic in and out of both Derby and Nottingham and then they want to add new commuters from HS2 every day. It's just not feasible. 3. The route is awful. They are trying to hug the M1 as much as possible but that means that they just plan to bulldoze through every country town and listed church in the area. For most of its length through the local area, it won't even be traveling faster than a normal train currently does but they still plan to build it with the wide, sweeping high speed turns as if it were going at full speed. 4. As usual, it's as corrupt as they get. It, of course, doesn't come near the richest areas but plows right through every poor community in its path, and we all know which of the two it's supposed to benefit. So the rich get all the convenience of high-speed rail links to London but the working-class locals get none of that but high rents, broken infrastructure and the bulldozing of whole chunks of their communities. It's all classic Torrie neo-liberalism trickle-down gutting of yet more of the country. And, knowing the Torries and public transport it'll do nothing to affect prices.

Just build an elevator between London and Birmingham. Problem solved 👍

The big problem is the roads are so congested and so journey times are getting longer and longer, the reason for this is the population has gone up too fast and the infrastructure can't cope

As a comparison to get a sense of how expensive this is becoming, the Spanish HSR system, currently the 2nd largest in the world with 3100 km since it's start 25 years ago has had a total cost of 55 billion dollars. Sure, the conditions are different in Spain, and the speed is 300/310kmh but you have to take in mind that that still doesn't negate that it is 10 times as long as HS2

What font are you using and why the H so freaking wiiiiiiiiide?

tbh the more I know about HS2 the more I'm for it. Or at least the more I am not against it

Wider capacity OMFG the first report that actually knew somthing about railway engineering 🥳

Can you do a video on the Northern Ireland-Scotland bridge plan that’s been in the news recently?

Right now, with the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, the government should be throwing money at this project. People and companies will be repairing their savings and balance sheets for years to come. This will severely reduce the amount of money flowing in the real economy, the government doubling the spend, to say getting the project completed three years ahead of schedule, will help in keeping the economy growing.

Infrastructure costs always end up being way higher than initially estimated. The biggest controversy is how the British public, or anyone for that matter, is even remotely surprised.

I really don't get all the environmental groups opposing rail infrastructure. It's the same thing in Germany, as soon as any investment is greenlit, there are dozens of groups going to court. Meanwhile people are sitting in traffic jams and the rest of the rail network struggles while crucial infrastructure is delayed. Surely the worst thing for the environment is everyone driving to work, not building a rail line that will relieve other lines at capacity and improve the quality of rail service.

I'm French, we have had a functionning high-speed rail network for nearly 40 years, and we shared it a bit with the neighbours. They also have one in Spain, Italy, Sweden and Germany (sort of).

Yes, keep arguing about high speed rails. Why do anyone needs them in the first place? Just use more cars and planes, it clearly works in the US... (that was sarcasm, if someone hasn't noticed). While China has what? 30 000km of high speed rails? And flying there over distances like 1300km (Shanghai Beijing) doesn't make much sense, as it's cheaper, almost as fast (including security/boarding) and way more comfortable to just go via train...

It is sad, that during the time in which Japan, Italy, Germany, France and so many other nations which had far worse rail networks, British Rail just couldn't get its share of the investment. All new high speed lines were a unobtainable fantasy, despite ambitions formalised into plans in the 1950s, many of the core existing main lines remain unelectrified. While Japan gets a lot of buzz around its high speed network, and fairly so, its historic narrow gauge railways received a tonne of investment too, especially as they handle all the freight and most of the commuter services. They were widely electrified, modern radio-based signalling installed decades ago, and this was on top of simply recovering the network to a running state after it was heavily bombed. It's amazing that British railways, which continued to push the envelop in the 1930s, were effectively defunded compared with the rest of the world. Maybe this line can do something to improve the situation, but there needs to be a lot of improvements elsewhere for the whole system to work more effectively.

What *£107bn* buys you; the price of HS2 high-speed rail from London serving only three cities directly: - 200 flagship hospitals similar to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth. - 1,660,000 new social homes according to Shelter - 25 Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers - to supply & fit 4kw array of solar panels to 15 million homes

10:41 looks like we cant have those bats for soup, oh dear.

Genuine question: Why don't we just build the second phase first, in order to have the intercity northerners gain some of the benefits of high speed travel, while we wait for the already wealthier south to get connected?

If Ireland had this... Cork to Dublin in less than an hour.

1960s Japan built the 515km Tokaido Shinkansen in 5 years. 2020s Britain will build half that distance with Phase 1 and 2a of HS2 in 10-13 years. All of HS2 combined will be only slightly longer than the Tokaido Shinkansen and won't be finished for at least another 15+ years providing that Phase 2 isn't delayed or cancelled.

Hurrah! At last capacity is mentioned. If you a re building a 21st century railway why would you expect 19th century speeds. Would you expect BMW or Mercedes to re-introduce the Austin 7?

Interesting video! Can you provide links for the 3 CBA you mentioned? Such a big disparity is rare to see. Last time I saw differing results like this was on a trump climate report, who puts carbon emission value at $1 per ton, instead of the 25-46 generally agreed.

Why does that just sound so familliar to me, even though I am from Germany? HowevBER you are not alone with thiS21 problem of expensive infrastructure projects in the UK.

Hey, trainspotting nerd here. I’d just like to point out how you were wrong about fast trains on the west coast mainline (wcml) having a problem with catching up with slower trains. Like all other UK mainlines (and other mainlines around the world, I would assume), the WCML has not two lines like you said, but 4, which have the following names: up slow (the line INTO London for SLOW trains) up fast (the line INTO London for FAST trains) down slow (the line AWAY from London for SLOW trains) and finally down fast (the line AWAY from London for FAST trains). **TLDR: Start of video is wrong as there are 4 tracks on the West Coast Mainline not 2, meaning that the point about fast trains catching up to slow ones is false, as there are already designated WCML fast and WCML slow lines.**

What would really change people's everyday lives would be a massive upgrade to the branch lines and trains which run on them. Because once you've gone up the mainline you then need to branch off somewhere and those trains are awful and unviable for many people.

I left the UK 40 years ago. Best decision ever!

Companies can quote low and then charge a fortune for works that come up that weren't in the original price, Day Works. Also by claiming off of other companies for delays etc.

There is already 6 tracks of rail that connect London and Birmingham. 2 on the Chiltern Line and 4 on the West Coast Mainline.

Maybe use the existing lines for the last few miles into London, either Euston or Paddington, instead of building the new line straight to the centre? Also change the arrangement by building underground through platforms for Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham stations, as well as better connections to the existing network. With a 140mph ECML north of York the Newcastle trains would be improved, and the Edinburgh trains should go via the ECML instead of the WCML.

Heres how to make it cheaper- Make it out of lego

SouthWest needs some better rails barely any transport linking from there to main hubs

I live in East Yorkshire. It takes me over 2 1/2 hours to get to South Yorkshire on a train. We need better infrastructure in the north

What we really need is a high speed service to the South-West. It takes longer to get from Cornwall to Exeter than between London and York. The old Victorian route still exists (it's a cycle path now) so it won't be nearly as expensive and will deliver much needed connections, and regenerate an often-neglected part of the country. It will also take the pressure off the commuter lines

HS2 is probably going to be needed more than ever seeming petrol and diesel cars are going to be banned.

China builds HS2 worth of high speed train tracks every other month

I would have more confidence in the governments motives if they started phase 2 of the HS2 first followed by the London route. Option A: They do HS2 phase 2A and 2B first and reduce the chances of a government cancelling the project whilst delivering a more meaningful regional shift in the economy quicker. Or Option B: They do HS2 phase 1 first to benefit London and Birmingham; which London doesn’t necessarily need. Followed by years of governments promising they will do the second part, and then never get round to doing it.

It's do do with our geology. Basically lots of the UK is made of clay. Clay slides, shrinks when dry, is unpredictable when wet. It's taking so long due to all the geological testing of the track sites. Then engineering needs to be done to stop these geological disasters from happening. Same reason why our highways are taking so long to build.

The Chinese can build this in 5 years at a much lower cost. We lost our industry in the recent past and now can not beat the Chinese building railways and most manufactured products.

Phase 1: Construct highly expensive high speed rail network from London to Birmingham Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit

I entirely back HS2 but by the time it is completed, it will be decades out of date, because it has been delayed for so god damn long!

Improving rail links across the north would do more than shaving a bit of time off the train to London. This is just an attempt at making it easier to commute to London from cheaper areas, than having to deal with the spiralling costs of living in the capital.

Its gonna be great, will open up job opportunities for loads of people.

By the time this project is finished, high speed rail will be old technology with other counties adopting Hyperloop.....

The problem is the UK's rail network needs some serious upgrades to bring it up to spec. Those upgrades to track that is basically 100 years old at this point, is going to be expensive. not approving of HS2 and then complaing that trains suck is a oxymoron.

After criticism of the slow speed of HS2, HS2 Ltd stated that the WCML was saturated south of Rugby, so they needed more capacity. They changed angle from speed into capacity. mmmmm *1.* The WCML can have *two extra tracks* into London as the straight Gt.Central trackbed still exists between Rugby and Aylesbury. It is also owned by Network Rail, reducing costs to reopen. Reopened, it can reach over 160mph giving a *fast* route into London. *2.* Euston station has the surrounds demolished. The station needed rebuilding irrespective of HS2 as it is too small. There is space for 12 car 900 passenger trains on the WCML. 12 trains per hour means *10,800 passengers per hour shifted.* This means they would shift twice as many passengers in and out than in 2014. *3.* Birmingham/West Midlands trains can go back onto the Chiltern Line (some still are on it). When the diesel run Chiltern is uprated it can clearly equal 52 minutes in journey time. It will take trains off the WCML onto the more direct Chiltern. So, *CAPACITY* is not a problem on the existing mainline network. We have all we want for the next 100 years.

I'm in favor simply because doing nothing is not a viable alternative. Providing modern, efficient infrastructure is a key government task in fostering a prosperous society.

Wow I can get from Manchester to London an hour quicker! Shame it will still take me 3 hours to travel 30 miles from my town to Manchester.

Honestly, the U.K. just needs a genuine initiative to fix over-centralisation of pretty much most industries from London and the South East.

The amount of money spent, the amount of land and the demolition of historic property is enough for me to dislike HS2, let alone the fact it only serves as far north as Leeds. What of Durham, Edinburgh and Aberdeen?

I remember when CD's first came out. They said the price of music would drop. Nope. It went up. Ok tapes got cheaper but CD prices on new albums stayed high. The same thing will happen with HS2. HS2 prices will be high to cover the costs and lets not forget the profit they all want, and most other rail might get cheaper but as they get cheaper they will get left behind in terms of service and maintenance. I don't think it's worth it for a project that will take twenty years. We don't know what's going to happen next year let alone in twenty. If you want the north to benefit put more business and industry up there. I rather see 106,000,000,000 quid spent on infrastructure in the north than just a link that may or may not do what it's intended to do. Plus. Twenty years to complete. That means a whole generation doesn't get the supposed benefits. HS2 is just more government bollocks which means they themselves get richer. As I said if we don't know what's going to happen next year with brexit who knows what spin the government will put on HS2 at anytime.

Bout time this country had some massive infrastructure investment

Your commuter trains look like Rick Sanchez.

The Euston to Manchester train consists of 6 overcrowded second class carriages and 5 empty first class carriages. Scrap first class service and you get an extra 370 second class seats per train. That’s 32,190 extra people who can travel per day. Now I’ve solved the capacity problem we can cancel HS2, save £106bn and there’s no need for austerity anymore. I for one am looking forward to the libraries reopening.

Why the Y, why didn't they just go straight from Manchester to Leeds and use all that extra money to extend it York, Hull or Newcastle?

They should call a referendum on it.

The description of the WCML is a load of rubbish - There are separate fast and slow lines as far as Crewe (Birmingham & Manchester branches are two-track railways). In addition, the line was upgraded with grade-separated junctions and tilting trains 10 years ago. The main issue is the sheer quantity of trains south of Milton Keynes - On the fast lines out of Euston there's a train leaving at least every 5 minutes and it doesn't help that some trains call at more stations than other e.g. Watford Junction and Milton Keynes.

A high speed link is what’s been needed for many years I live in Kent and the high speed into London saves a lot of time and is a very good service

I don't understand how they're going to blame the EU.

Hi TL;DR, Can you pleases do a new video on the Coronavirus? Thanks

The general public know very little about the plight of ordinary people along the route that have had their properties compulsory purchased and have been treated in the most horrendous manner by HS2 . HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson is not fit for purpose,

Uk have had one of biggest, best operating and affordable railways network until 60s in the world. When every Britons suddenly decides they want a freedom of owning a car. Mostly due huge advertising to boost a sale of cars. Due shortside thinking of both gouverment and nation in 1963 UK irreversibly lost quarter of whole railways network with closing od 2128 stations and loss of 67 700 jobs.

Remember that time BoJo the Clown wasted millions on the Garden Bridge... that never got built? Great use of public funds...

by 2040 I imagine other countries will have trains double the speed of HS2 at less than half the cost. Oh and wth have they been doing the past 10 years?

You missed out Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of the HS2 route

In smaller, densely populated countries like in Europe anything beyond a top speed of 300 km/h is usually not that useful, as you will either have arrived at the next stop already or face speed-reducing obstacles (curves, slopes, noise-sensitive areas, etc.) before reaching and/or sustaining much higher speeds for significant parts of the journey.

Its almost like if we had the money that the train operators skim of the top, we could invest in expanding the network.

HS2 plans to finish at 2040. By that time maybe we already have the tech for teleportation.

Looks main problem in UK is urban sprawl outside of London and in Midlands. High speed train infrastructures are more easiliy built and efficient between big cities separated by mostly low-population flat farmlands or wastelands. In France and Spain there is much less urban sprawl. For instance here are some TGV destinations: 1h: Paris-Lille (230 km) : beet and potato fields mainly 1h30: Paris-Rennes (350 km) : corn and grass fields Lyon-Marseille (325 km) : fruit-trees and vineyards and garigue (wasteland). 2h: Paris-Lyon (485 km) : grass fields, vineyard 2h20: Paris-Strasbourg (490 km) : corn, vineyard and grass fields. Paris-Bordeaux (550 km) : corn fields, sunflowers It comes down to geography, in France big cities outside of Paris are "long-distance" and mostly at extremeties (close to seaside, moutains or outside borders). Also travel purpose is diverse: tourism, business, students, families etc.

4:20 Those construction costs are ridiculous. Madrid-Barcelona, 621 km, 350 km/h max, cost 9 billion euro.