The UK government is reportedly considering scrapping the second phase of its long-term high-speed rail project, HS2. It has been revealed that a cost analysis outlining the benefit of doing so was prepared ahead of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent meeting with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Reports have said that Sunak and Hunt were told cancelling the line from Birmingham to Manchester could save up to £35 billion.
Launched in 2013, HS2 has been controversial from the outset. Support, both political and popular, has wavered. Costs and delays have spiralled, yet quantifying the corresponding increase in benefits has remained difficult.
We asked professor of new infrastructure development, Nuno Gil, from the Alliance Manchester Business School to explain how megaprojects come to be scrapped and what it means for the UK if phase two does not go ahead in full.
