If there is one place in the world where HS2 is loved, it is Birmingham. The outgoing mayor of West Midlands, Andy Street, was, rightly, impassioned about its effect on the city and so is his successor, Richard Parker. And with good reason.
Despite my criticism of the HS2 project, the scheme’s PR people have been very open about allowing me to visit the work in progress and it has been quite an eye opener. While nothing will make me do a reverse ferret and start saying that HS2 was really a fantastic idea all along, we are where we are as politicians are wont to say. Therefore, the best must be made of the money spent so far and of the potential to make best use of the section that will be completed.
To emphasise what I have said before, the section I have called the Acton to Aston shuttle will definitely be completed, whatever the cost, and whoever is in government by the end of this year. Leaving those huge chunks of infrastructure such as the ten mile tunnel under the Chilterns and the two mile long Colne Valley viaduct to die slowly of concrete cancer was never feasible.
Therefore the £5bn contract for the terminus station at Curzon Street and the associated works of the line between Leamington Spa and Handsacre junction, along with the spur to the station, will be completed. Visiting it in May, the area around the old Curzon Street station rather looks resembled the razed area created by HS2 at Euston but with a crucial difference. The work at Curzon Street is definitely going to be completed and that urban desert will be turned into a bustling station within the next five years while Euston, at the moment, is slated to remain undeveloped given the fantasy of an entirely private sector funded scheme envisaged by government.
There was something heartening, but also very sad, about the reception me and my fellow podcaster Mark Walker were given by the Curzon Street team. Their enthusiasm for the project has not been dented by the gung ho cancellation of the Northern stretch which was supposed to allow the trains to continue on a high speed line north beyond the Handsacre Junction. In a way that decision has not had much of a direct impact on the Curzon Street project, an overall contract which includes some 90kms of railway apart from the uncertainty – and possible extra work – at the junction. Nevertheless, the team seemed very sanguine about the fact that a major part of HS2 has, for the time being, been scrapped or at least shelved, and their keenness to demonstrate the value of what they are doing was undimmed.
In fact, work has not really started on the station itself, although the area has been cleared and the old Curzon Street building stands rather forlornly among a rubble strewn wasteland, boarded up as it is in a poor state and in need of major refurbishment. Piling on the rest of the site is due to start soon but the station will not be ready until at least the end of the decade and there are major parts of the design, such as the material to be used for the roof, which have still not been decided. However, two aspects are definite. First it will open with just four platforms but the original design which envisaged seven will be retained with passive provision for the other three. Their purpose remains as yet unclear but numerous options are being considered such as, with a mile or two of extra line, providing various suburban service or possibly regional routes to other parts of the Midlands.
The other key facility in the station will be a tram running underneath. While that is confirmed, there has been a row between HS2 and the local Transport for West Midlands over access to the site to build the line with the result that this has now been postponed until the completion of the station in 2029. Moreover, while it is expected that there will be a direct link between Curzon Street and New Street since a junction has been built in preparation for it, the precise route that it will take has not been determined. And as it is likely to be quite a roundabout journey for what should be merely a 15 minute walk, there is an expectation that those in the know might just go on foot. This, in fact, is a real weak point of the scheme and my view is that, whatever the cost, to make Curzon Street viable, there should be a travelator sort of arrangement to create a proper link as otherwise many people might not bother with HS2 rather than the conventional line, if they are connecting to other rail services.
While work has yet to start on the Curzon Street station itself, progress on the works bringing the railway into Birmingham are well advanced. The last couple of miles of the line are on a viaduct because the route crosses the main line railway, a canal and a major road, as well as several other obstacles. Therefore bringing it in to central Birmingham on the level proved impossible but these barriers still had to overcome. There are two enormous bridges being constructed on the site and one, which has been completed, will need to be turned 90 degrees and launched over a major road over the space of 9 nights. Work has to be carried out with the road closed at night, not through fear that the structure will fall, but rather that it would distract the drivers. The other bridge, over the railway and a road, will be 150 metres long and has, remarkably, been named after the England footballer, who will only turn 21 in June, as he is a local boy.
The other source of pride is the fact that throughout the project leaders have emphasised the importance of employing local people, often from the pool of unemployed, and developing their skills. It was really very moving to be shown examples of local deprived youngsters and even refugees from Afghanistan and elsewhere who had been given sometimes surprisingly senior jobs in the project in what was clearly a life changing experience. That is why such public sector funded investment schemes are so transforming as those commissioning the contracts can ensure that priority is given to wider considerations than merely getting the job done as cheaply as possible.
That put into perspective the needless and shortsighted cancellation of the northern section, carried out for short term political interests with no consideration of the wider achievements of a major infrastructure project like HS2. It means that thousands of similar people further north will not get the chance that those in Birmingham have. Whatever my doubts about the original concept of HS2 and the ridiculous waste of a over specified and poorly managed project, the scrapping of the continuation is an outrage and will, over time, be reversed in some way.
Chris Gibb, a very experienced rail manager, has come up with a scheme to make best use of the completed infrastructure with an ingenious plan to enable a souped up fleet of Pendolinos to use it at 155 mph along with a fleet of new trains able to run at 186 mph as an interim solution allowing many more trains to use the completed section of HS2 while not requiring the huge cost of building the full line, Euston would only need two new 400 m long platforms in addition to two for the Caledonian Sleeper. This represents the beginning of developing alternative ideas for the line which cannot be left as the Acton – Aston shuttle.
French Metro
There is something much more edgy about the Parisian Metro compared with the London Underground. It certainly seems more rundown, and I was shocked to find the smell of urine entering the station Chatelet, a confluence of five Metro and three RER lines that is right in the centre of Paris. Certainly such lack of cleaning would not be tolerated in its equivalent station of Kings Cross. There were, at a suburban station, kids hanging around smoking dope as ticketless entry through the exit doors is easy for them – and indeed, as it was for me and my wife as there was no way to buy a ticket at the little station we found ourselves at with out luggage and the local people helped us get through with theirs. Indeed, finding anyone to help you is virtually impossible as the gatelines, unlike in London, are not routinely staffed.
But there is also much to love about the system, as well set out in one of my favourite books of last year, Andrew Martin’s Metropolitain, an ode to the Paris Metro. Quite apart from anything else, there are so many stations – 308 largely tucked into the main central area of the 20 arrondissements of Paris – that one is always near one. The sheer intricacy of the system is fascinating, too, as are the names of the stations – how come Oberkampf and Stalingrad are celebrated along with a plethora of obscure generals and politicians. We were staying near line 7 bis which is almost completely useless as it serves a few stations in a loop and therefore we never ventured on to it.
We were there on a cycle study trip comparing the difference with London. And it was marked. As witnessed by the fact that four new lines are being planned, largely serving suburban parts of Metro-less Paris, the same goes for cycling infrastructure. Double cycle lanes, carved out of space formerely reserved for cars, have poppled along all the main boulevards. Whereas we spend years consulting and assuaging the hurt feelings of motorists, Anne Hidalgo is merrily plonking down cycle lanes, Metro lines and tram systems on the basis that she has been elected to do so. What we could do with the same assertive philosophy in this country, rather than pandering to every small vested interest which adds cost and ensures nothing much gets down!