Nils Pratley on finance HS2 HS2 supporters boast of benefits – but costs keep going off the rails Nils Pratley Nils Pratley Is spending £55.7bn on the high-speed railway really the best way to ‘rebalance the economy’ and deliver a ‘jobs bonanza’? -- * Share via Email Protest signs over HS2 [ ] HS2: on track to swallow up more than £50bn. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images ‘HS2 was always designed to be much more than just a high-speed railway and today we can see the opportunities it brings right around the country – spreading prosperity, acting as a catalyst for investment and rebalancing our economy 10 years before the railway even opens,” said David Higgins, chairman of the high-speed railway, as the first construction contracts were awarded on Monday. We’ll have to get used to self-serving boasts in this style. The most irritating part is the invitation to think that it’s OK to spend £55.7bn on a high-speed railway – the last official budget – if the construction spreads a little peace, love and rebalancing on the way. The better question is to ask is whether HS2 is the most effective way to pursue such goals and whether the promised “jobs bonanza” – another pet phrase of the HS2 fans – could be delivered more cheaply by other means. Last year, the House of Lords economic affairs committee and the Treasury committee in the Commons came to the awkward conclusion that the economic case for HS2 had not been made conclusively. HS2 contracts worth £6.6bn awarded by UK government Read more -- Better still, Grayling could order some worked-up examples of what else you can buy for £55.7bn. Railway experts look to smaller-scale upgrades of track and junctions and wonder how many won’t be built as the HS2 mega-project dominates transport spending for the next decade. -- Don’t hold your breath, though. The engineers have won the battle for HS2, and they are determined to persuade you that theirs is the only possible way to spend £55bn, or whatever the true cost turns out to be. -- power of retention is roughly zero. Topics * HS2 * Nils Pratley on finance -- (BUTTON) Close [p?c1=2&c2=6035250&cv=2.0&cj=1&comscorekw=HS2%2CRail+transport%2CTransp ort%2CUK+news%2CTransport+policy%2CPolitics%2CRail+industry%2CITV%2CBus iness%2CITV+plc%2CMedia+business%2CTelevision+industry%2CMedia]