{"id":300,"date":"2014-04-11T12:03:53","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T12:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wdp.hr\/poseidon\/property\/?p=300"},"modified":"2014-04-11T12:03:53","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T12:03:53","slug":"higgins-urges-fast-tracking-hs2-to-save-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/higgins-urges-fast-tracking-hs2-to-save-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Higgins urges fast-tracking HS2 to save costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

HS2 chief executive Sir David Higgins has set out plans to fast-track the \u00a343bn high speed railway project to peg costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He says there is a compelling case for starting UK\u2019s biggest ever infrastructure project\u00a0in the south and north as soon as possible, as part of the main thrust of his report into saving Government cash.<\/p>\n

Report: vision for HS2<\/a><\/p>\n

The new HS2 project chief also calls for politicians from all parties to lend their backing to the scheme and speed the passage of the necessary legislation through Parliament.<\/p>\n

Sir David sets out plans to accelerate phase two north of Birmingham.<\/p>\n

This would take the line 43 miles further north than planned, to a new transport hub at Crewe in Cheshire which could be completed by 2027, six years earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

Higgins is also understood to have found \u00a31.5bn savings around London, and\u00a0recommends scrapping a proposed link between HS2 and the HS1 the Channel Tunnel route priced at up to \u00a3500m.<\/p>\n

But he will also call for reinstatement of more grandiose plans for a major rebuild of Euston station, paid for through property development around the site.<\/p>\n

Sir David, the former London Olympics supremo, will said:\u00a0\u201cThe cost and impact have to be recognised and acknowledged, but so too\u00a0do the cost and impact of doing nothing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Without HS2, the\u00a0people of this country will continue to face the failures of our\u00a0transport system on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katja Hall, CBI Chief Policy Director, said: \u201cThis report will help build confidence in the budget, delivery and benefits of HS2.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to keep a lid on costs is to move to the construction stage quickly and we would urge politicians on all sides of the House to get behind this important project.<\/p>\n

Hall added: \u201cHS2 will connect eight of our 10 largest cities and boost local economies along the route, and the proposed interchange at Crewe is particularly good news for the north.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe North London line is a busy commuter route and it therefore makes sense to reconsider how we link to HS1.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would urge HS2 and the Department for Transport to come up with a workable alternative swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campaigners spearheading the case for a direct HS2 link to Liverpool have seized on the report\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n

Now they are calling on HS2 \u00a0to recycle identified cost savings from London into improved connections for Liverpool and the North.<\/p>\n

Andrew Morris, Chair of 20 Miles More said:\u00a0\u201cWe welcome proposals to reduce the overall cost of HS2, but it presents a massive opportunity to recycle a part of the savings to achieve very significant economic rebalancing.<\/p>\n

\u2018The \u00a31.5bn that has been saved on costs around London is the amount needed to deliver the 20 miles that would link the Liverpool City Region to HS2.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HS2 chief executive Sir David Higgins has set out plans to fast-track the \u00a343bn high speed railway project to peg costs. He says there is a compelling case for starting UK\u2019s biggest ever infrastructure project\u00a0in the south and north as soon as possible, as part of the main thrust of his report into saving Government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9PjAq-4Q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}