Almost £1 billion already spent on HS2
Nearly £1 billion has already been spent on HS2, it has been revealed, with the boss of Britain's only existing high-speed line saying the scheme is 'not worth the money'.
The £50b high speed rail link between London, the Midlands and the north, is set to be the world's most expensive railway if it is approved by MPs.
The project's chief executive Simon Kirby, has revealed that spending is about to hit £1b with £7 b of contracts about to go out to tender.
When construction begins, expected in 2017, the 2011 forecasts for the cost stood at £47m per kilometre of track.
But Rob Holden, who runs the Channel Tunnel high-speed rail line, has cast doubt on the benefit of the second line.
He said: "HS2 is not good value for money. But one of the problems is that they are now so far down the design, that to redesign it would involve a lot of abortive costs."
Defending the immense cost of the railway line, Mr Kirby said it was a 'once in every 150-year opportunity to reconfigure the country's rail network'.
Thousands of objectors are set to make their case to MPs in the coming months in a bid to prevent the new line being built.
Elsewhere, the economic benefits of the track have been called into question, as HS1 delivered no economic gain for the areas through which it passes. According to think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, the employment rate has actually fallen by five per cent in that area of the south east since it was completed.
It comes after the Express & Star revealed that 92 homes worth £53m across the Midlands have been snapped up to make way for HS2 – even though the project is yet to be given the go-ahead.
The government has bought 43 properties in Staffordshire worth £26.29m, 14 in the West Midlands worth about £10m, and 35 in North Warwickshire worth nearly £18m.
And they have also agreed to purchase another 68 homes across the region under deals that do not have to completed until construction on the line starts.
HS2 is set to carve a 45-mile swathe of Staffordshire countryside, with residents concerned over the falling value of their homes, the noise created by trains travelling at 225mph, environmental damage, and blighting unspoilt countryside views.
