Why Britain’s government would be wrong to cut HS2

THE RELATIONSHIP HSbetween British politicians and the railways has long been difficult. In 1830 the opening ceremony of the world’s first intercity line, between Manchester and Liverpool, was marred by a former cabinet minister being killed by a locomotive. Rumours this week that the government might cancel part of High Speed 2 (2), a long-planned upgrade to the rail network, has left less blood on the tracks. But it has provoked a furious reaction from business leaders and politicians, including Conservatives.Until the pandemic the railways had been enjoying a multi-decade renaissance. The number of journeys more than doubled between the early 1990s and 2019, to over 1.7bn annually. In the late 2010s passenger numbers reached their highest since the early 1920s, before mass ownership of cars. But whereas Britain had over 32,000km of track a century ago, it now has under 16,000km.