How fast hs2

HS2 is set to be the "biggest infrastructure decision since World War Two", according to one government official. Whether to go ahead with building the high-speed rail line has become a dilemma for Boris Johnson because the estimated price tag shot up back in the summer. Here are some of the reasons why the project is so expensive and why its budget has risen so much. The blueprint for HS2 has been designed so the railway can accommodate more trains per hour - 18 - than any other high-speed line in the world.

The infrastructure - numbers of platforms at stations - and the systems, which means the signalling, have therefore been designed with this in mind. The track will also sit on concrete "slab track" which is durable but more expensive to buy than your more conventional ballast. When you start planning a major infrastructure project such as HS2, experts are supposed to make informed estimates about the amount of time and money needed to complete each phase.

HS2 Ltd has been widely criticised for not factoring-in enough risk and uncertainty into its calculations. Former HS2 directors have even accused the company of keeping costs artificially low to make the project more attractive.

HS2 Ltd rejects that claim. One of the big unknowns, which was underestimated on the first phase, was "ground conditions". Now that surveys underneath the surface along the route from London to Birmingham have been done, the higher costings for that first stretch are regarded as more robust. But surveys have not been carried out on the latter and longer phase, Birmingham to Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds. And that's why the price tag for the second phase of HS2 is not certain.

While the whole line will be built, the government is set to review spend on the project to find savings. So what is the proposed route and why has the project gone over budget? The new railway line running between London and the West Midlands would carry m-long 1,ft trains with as many as 1, seats per train.

The line would enable trains to reach speeds of up to mph and would run as often as 14 times an hour in each direction. A V-shaped second phase would then run services from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. The Department for Transport has said that the project will triple the capacity of trains across the entire route.

The government launched a review of the high-speed rail network in August to consider whether and how the project should proceed. In January, the BBC revealed that it " strongly" advised against cancelling the project.

On Tuesday, the prime minister said that there would be new "delivery arrangements" for the sections to Leeds and Manchester. A new HS2 station would be built next to Manchester Piccadilly under this part of the plan.

City mayors in northern England have previously urged that the project be delivered in full to help boost investment and productivity in the areas. The programme originally began under the Labour government in The first phase of the railway - between London and Birmingham - was due to open at the end of He said: "HS2 is at the heart of our plans to build back better - and with construction now formally under way, it's set to create around 22, new jobs.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed the beginning of construction "marks a major milestone in this Government's ambitions to build back better from Covid". He said: "Shovels in the ground to deliver this new railway means thousands of jobs building the future of our country's infrastructure. The project has already been in the works with the past 10 years spent in development and preparatory work. Construction will now begin with the biggest engineering challenges - such as the stations and tunnels - followed by the main viaducts and bridges.

Most activity in will be focused on HS2's city centre stations and major construction compounds such as in Old Oak Common, west London and Calvert, Buckinghamshire. Jump directly to the content. HS2 says this provides far greater benefits: stopping at Old Oak Common takes pressure off Euston, but the service will also allow passengers to go straight to the centre of London, rather than having to rely on local shuttle services.

But many critics say that this is a waste of money. The experience in Japan is not to go to the existing city centres. This part of the debate largely comes down to whether you think the convenience of building the track to Euston is worth the extra cost.

Experts are divided, but there are no right or wrong answers. On HS2, there will be 18 trains an hour. Each train will be m long, carrying 1, people. That line runs just ten trains per hour, but each train has a slightly larger capacity of 1, Services in France are also less frequent than what is proposed with HS2, even when we take into account future upgrades.

The high-speed line between Paris and Lyon, for instance, currently runs up to 13 trains an hour. There are now plans to increase this to 16 by , but this is still less than what is being proposed with HS2. Some are sceptical that this can be achieved. HS2 did not give us a precise turn-around time, but said it would be about 20 minutes for each train. However, here at FactCheck, we are a little sceptical of this claim.