HS2 route 'must be repurposed for new power cables' if railway closes

HS2 construction site in Warwickshire last week Photo: Chris Gorman/Big Ladder

HS2 route should be repurposed to accommodate new power cables if they are scrapped, said Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB.

A major Tory party donor has said the much-maligned high-speed rail line could be used for cable infrastructure to support expected rising electricity demand.

Mr Sunak is reportedly considering canceling the line north of Birmingham to Manchester and ending it in west London rather than Euston as planned.

The announcement was expected this week. But it is now likely to be delayed amid concerns about what scrapping the Manchester leg might look like just days before the Conservatives arrive in the city for their annual conference.

Because Mr Sunak was under growing pressure to take the step, with Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, saying HS2 looked like a «waste of money».

The poll also found more people were opposed construction of HS2. first stage of HS2 than to support it.

A YouGov poll found 39 per cent opposed and just 29 per cent in favour. Others had no opinion.

Opposition to HS2 outweighs support

In a letter to The Telegraph, Lord Bamford said: “Amid growing calls for HS2 to be scrapped, possibly completely, due to rising costs, delays and proposed cuts routes north of Birmingham, may I encourage some out-of-the-box thinking?

«With most of the construction already underway, or in some cases effectively completed, why don't we use this route to lay out the cable infrastructure needed to support the expected rise in electricity demand across the country?»

2801 HS2 collapses

It said that electric cars and vans alone could increase demand by 100 TWh (terawatt-hour) by 2050.

“Since we will all be consuming much more electricity in the future, there is compelling logic that to have a central system to distribute power up and down the country,” he said. “The support is already there — it’s called HS2…

«Former power stations along the route — for example Rugeley in Staffordshire — can be reconfigured or repurposed to distribute power from the mainline across the network if necessary.

» Thinking outside the box is required to get some return on the significant investment that is already were invested in this project.»

Lord Bamford Credits: Jamie Lorriman

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson told Times Radio he believed HS2 should never have been given the go-ahead.

“It all makes me cry,” he said. “It just makes me desperate. The original sin was agreeing to do it.

“Obviously it would be extremely expensive, and it would be of relatively little benefit compared to almost anything else you could do with a railroad or transportation system, if either improving rail links in the north or building lots of bypasses and improving roundabouts on the road network.

“And we knew that wasn't the best way to spend the money. this amount of money. We also know how difficult it is for us to build projects like this… I just wish this had never happened in the first place.”

He added: “It looks like we're going to completely waste the money.” it's about building a railway costing tens of billions that will take you from Birmingham to central London less quickly than you can currently do.”