Following his appearance in front of the Transport Select Committee, Richard Wellings discussed government rail policy.
He argued that HS2 is the worst example of uneconomic government transport policy. HS2 is a poor use of taxpayers' resources; a loss-making project, it requires huge taxpayer subsidies which will do huge economic damage.
Once it is running there is also the risk that people may not even use the service and it may not cover its operating costs. HS2 may require continual susbidies and does not account for technological change. If increasing amounts of people are working remotely in several years time they will rely less on trains, further jeopardising returns to taxpayers.
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