High-speed rail will be a scar across the heart of England This
week, David Cameron suddenly and very unexpectedly committed the
Coalition Government to what will almost certainly turn out to
be the most expensive engineering project in British history. He
publicly backed the proposed high-speed rail link between London
and the north of England. This project has been estimated to
cost a mind-blowing £17 billion to reach Birmingham alone,
although experience suggests that the true figure is almost
certain to amount to very much more than that. In return for
this prodigious sum, approximately half an hour will be knocked
off the journey time. As matters stand, it takes one hour and 24
minutes to travel by train from London to Birmingham. For most
of us, that feels pretty rapid – but it is not fast enough for
the promoters of Mr Cameron’s latest pet project. They say their
plan will enable the journey to be made in 49 minutes. Perhaps
this is desirable, or perhaps not, but there is surely an issue
of proportion