Welcome

HS2 Action Alliance is a not for profit organisation working with over 70 local community groups, which is challenging the case for the High Speed 2 (HS2) project and working to get Government to take the right decisions.

HS2 is a Government plan to build a high speed rail link. The initial plan is for a high speed railway between London and the West Midland (Birmingham). The second phase will take the high speed rail to Manchester and Leeds (the 'Y') and make connections with existing intercity services.  The initial phase will provide a link to HS1 and, in the second phase, a link to Heathrow.  The total capital cost of both phases (the 'Y' network) is over £30 billion and represents a cost to every family of well over £1000

Our 5 core campaign messages are

  1. HS2 is a waste of money and wrong priority
  2. The business case is flawed
  3. HS2 can't cure the North South divide
  4. There are better alternatives to improving our railways
  5. The environmental case has collapsed

Read more about them here. 

You can also find out about the alternatives at www.betterthanhs2.org

Latest News - 20 February 2012
 
Ensuring the environment and community aspects remain a priority.  HS2 Ltd must work closely with local authorities, communities and stakeholders to develop the design of HS2 in a way which minimises potential impacts and identifies opportunities for community benefit. Read who they will consult and on what aspects here.
 
 
Embarrassed DfT create spurious statistics to cover up their poor business case. DfT responded to HS2AA’s 13 February letter about legal action by quoting figures to suggest HS2 delivers £4 of benefit for every additional £1 spent. This was misleading as it's at least three times better than the real facts that DfT themselves published in January 2012 when they took their decision to proceed with HS2, and it's still worse than the prudent and much better alternative of uprating WCML, that delivers more than £5 benefit.   Read more here.
 
 
HS2AA launches its legal challenge to HS2. Today (13 Feb) HS2AA serves a formal letter on Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Transport, asking her to abandon her decision to proceed with HS2.  The letter also gives her notice that HS2AA may challenge her decision through judicial review.  Read more here. Last week 51m anounced a similar intention.
 
 
51m launch their legal challenge. Members of 51m, the alliance of local authorities opposed to HS2, have served a formal letter on the Secretary of State for Transport asking her to rescind her decision to proceed with HS2 and giving notice that they may otherwise challenge the decision by way of judicial review. Read full story here
 
 
The review of the January 2012 business case shows its gone from bad to worse. Momentum against HS2 is building and the new business case is even worse than before, with a benefits cost ratio under 50p for every £1 invested when up-to-date information and assumptions are used. Its only a matter of time before Government comes to its senses and invests in our real rail needs, creates jobs and growth, and abandons this project.  Read our summary or full 5 page review of the business case.

 
The decision on compensation ignores the fact what 98% of people said about the options. Read about it here

 
The Fightback Starts Here
Following the announcement to proceed with HS2, HS2 Action Alliance, in conjunction with other groups, intends to mount a legal challenge against the Government regarding this decision.There is a very short timescale within which such a legal action can be brought – less than 3 months from the decision date - and we urgently need to raise funds to enable us to do this.
A dedicated Legal Fund has been set up for all donations to the legal action.  Please click here to see how to make a donation.  All monies paid into the legal fund will be used solely for legal matters and kept separate from main campaign funds. 
 

Jerry Marshall's open letter to Justine Greening can be read here

 

What a difference a new job makes  Latest blog entry, discussing the results of the public consultation on HS2 and Justine Greening's political career, can be read here

 

HS2 Public Consultation  The results of the HS2 consultation have been published following the Government’s announcement yesterday and show that the vast majority of the 55,000 respondents did not want HS2. Read on here
 
 
HS2 announcement in the media  Following the Government's announcement yesterday to go ahead with the £32bn HS2 project, the story was widely covered in the media. For a selection of the major press coverage, click here

HS2AA's response to the Government's decision on HS2- Bruce Weston, director of HS2AA said:  'Justine Greening has just committed each and every household in the UK to pay £1,700 for a railway that is not needed and not wanted'. Read the full response here

 

AGAHST’s response to Government decision on HS2- Jerry Marshall, Chairman, AGAHST said; 'Justine Greening has said that she would make a rational decision on HS2 and she clearly has not.  If she had taken a cold hard look at HS2 she would see that it is a disaster waiting to happen'.  Read the full response here

 

Network Rail  betray their prejudice in favour of HS2, as despite not disputing either the capacity the 51m solution provides, nor materially the costs (which are a fraction of HS2), they fail to conclude that it is a better more cost-effective approach than HS2. Network Rail focus particularly on the disruption that it would cause, ignoring the fact that it would be insignificant compared to that from HS2's 8 year rebuild of Euston- aptly described by one expert as ''like open heart surgery on a conscious patient.

 

Poland becomes the latest country to shelve its plans for high speed railways, and even France looks to focus new expenditures on their existing lines.  Read a full round-up of the position overseas, and in China.

 

New Year’s Resolutions for Greening. As Justine Greening prepares to give the go-ahead to HS2 in January (despite widespread public opposition), members of Action Groups Against High Speed Two (AGAHST) along with railway expert Chris Stokes, have been giving some thought to what her New Year’s resolutions should be for the UK’s rail network. Read the resolutions...

 

New YouGov Poll - Nearly two thirds of population opposed to money being spent on HS2. Click here to read our full press release.

 
Capacity claims are wrong - Research carried out by HS2 Action Alliance, and verified by independent research firm CRT Viewpoint, has discovered that long distance trains leaving Euston during the week day, evening peak period (16.30 to 18.59) on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) had an average occupancy rate or load factor of just 56 percent.  This directly contradicts claims by the DfT and HS2 Ltd that the lack of capacity on the WCML is the central reason why the £32b HS2 rail line needs to be built.  You can read the full release here. 
 
 
18 trains an hour letter - on the 4th December Bruce Weston of HS2AA wrote to Alison Munro, Chief Executive, HighSpeed2 Ltd, requesting that she publishes any documentation that she had on wether running 18 trains per hour was practical on HS2. The full letter can be read here. 
 
 
Jerry Marshall, Chairman, AGHAST, wrote to all British MPs this week summarising the issues around and opposition to HS2. You can read the letter here.
 
 
Following the publication of our research into the load factors on long-distance trains leaving Euston (during peak hours in the working week), we have written to Justine Greening. The letter highlights that peak trains have an average load factor of 56%. This clearly demonstrates that claims by the DfT and HS2 that state that the West Coast Main Line is 'full' are incorrect.
 
 
HS2AA research externally validated shows WCML long distance trains are not full at all in the peak.  See Financial Times article
 
 
Open letter to Justine Greening on Lobby Day 28th November 2011.  Click here to read today's STOP HS2 letter to Justine Greening. 
 
 
DfT's view of arguments for and against HS2 - The DfT in their 17 Nov 2011  House of Commons research paper (RP11-75) summarise how they see the arguments from both sides.  Much is drawn from the TSC, and does not give the complete picture, and of course predates any summary of the issues raised in the 55,000 consultation responses – due Dec 2011.
 
 
What will Justine Greening say about HS2?  Click here to read our guest blog by Jerry Marshall, AGAHST.
 
 
IoD members unsure about HS2
  • Improvements to existing intercity and commuter lines more important than HS2, say directors
  • Directors concerned about value for money
  • Larger proportions think that airport capacity increases would improve their productivity
Read more here.
 
 
DfT misquoted-  DfT have confirmed they did not say that the response to the consultation was largely positive (see Guardian article) but that the TSC 'echoes a number of the messages coming out from the responses to the public consultation'.  Rather different.
 
 
Revisions requested by Transport Select Committee destroy HS2 Business Case. 8th November 2011– Today’s Transport Select Committee (TSC) report on High Speed Rail Two (HS2) recommends revisions that destroy the business plan case for the £30 billion project, according to opponents of the scheme.
Read our press release  and see our summary of the 10 key points that destroy the business case.

 
New Great N
Who's on side - We've updated our list of organisations against HS2, MPs who are against or sceptical and comments from the media and individuals. Read the summary or go to the full document.  Please let us know of any additions or changes needed.

 
Get your Empty Home story on TV -An independent  TV production company filming about empty homes is interested in the impact of HS2.  Whether you are an owner or a neighbour if you have a story to share see here for more info, including how to contact them.

 
HS2 is not the best solution to capacity issues
The Chair of the All Parliamentary Group for HS2, Stuart Andrew, MP, has written in the MPs House magazine (read here)
why he believes HS2 is necessary for Capacity.  But he is wrong!  HS2AA have responded with the arguments for why what
he says is nonsense, read it here

 
High Speed 2 - essential for capacity? Absolutely not!
There is still plenty of scope to add capacity to the West Coast Mainline. The idea that this is costly or impractical is plain nonsense. Download our advertisement from the latest House magazine for the facts here.

 
Greening must kill the White Elephant of HS2  Jerry Marshall, Chairman of AGHAST, commenting on the appointment of Justine Greening to the post of Minister for Transport
 
 
How everyone can help  Phone your friends and get them to go to www.highspeedrail.org.uk/xaa and e-mail their MP, while you are speaking to them. It's 5mins well spent!

 
Is the HS2 the Coalition's Next U-Turn?  When it comes to managing the public finances, one would think that avoiding making commitments to spend £32 billion on a capital project with dubious and unproven economic and social benefits would rank quite highly in the current climate. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong, for this is exactly what the coalition government is trying to do with HS2, its high speed rail plan to link London with the North. - Read the full article, posted on the Huffington Post UK on 13 October, here.

 

 

Rebutting 6 Myths about HS2

  1. HS2 is NOT ‘green’ – it doesn’t fit as part of the low carbon economy
  2. HS2 WON’T bridge the North/South divide, or deliver economic benefits
  3. HS2 is NOT a sound investment – it’s not value for money
  4. A new railway is NOT needed to solve the rail capacity problem
  5. HS2 will NOT greatly reduce domestic air travel
  6. The UK does NOT need to catch up with Europe – it is still ahead.  Read more about this specific myth here.

For details  Click here, also see our 'Myths' web page.

Campaigners for HS2 have attempted to counter our myths, see our response to them.


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© HS2 Action Alliance 2011