High Speed Round Up

Just back from annual leave and slowly getting my brain back into gear. Given that we are told the HS2 decision is coming soon, I thought it might be useful to pull together some of my previous blogs on the issue:

• Extra tunneling costs, the finance black hole and the problems with predicting demand growth from 6th December 2011.
• Why it's OK to support some large infrastructure projects but not others (following criticism of the ASI's position as purely ideological)
• HS2 and NIMBYism (some findings from related academic research)
• HS2 and the North-South divide
• Benefits and costs both highly uncertain.
• Environmental benefits limited.
• People are in favour of high speed rail, providing they don't have to pay for it.
• The opportunity costs of the project are large (i.e. we could better spend the money on other things)

[Disclosure: I sit on the HS2 Analytical Challenge Panel]