There is a growing feeling among those who think about things that the proposed High Speed 2 Rail line will not do anything more that spending a great deal if public money on getting people from the centre of London to the centres of Manchester and Birmingham in half the existing journey times.
Those in favour of HS2 claim that the £33 billion project will (a) provide employment – but this is not a special factor because any £33 billion government project will provide employment (b) help the economies of the North of England but the new rail link could just as easily hinder those economies because it can carry people away just as fast as it can bring people there.
Like many other large government projects, the HS2 project seems more about vanity. Like Ozymandias’s project future generations will “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Filed under: climate change | Tagged: and despair!', economy, government projects, High Speed Rail 2, HS2, journey times, Ozymandias, public money, Sheley, ye mighty | Leave a comment »
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