HS2: Britain's Super-Fast Rail Dream

0:00On March 30th, high speed 2, or HS2, kicked off 17 years ago as Britain's big dream for super fast rail from London up to Birmingham. Manchester leads and beyond. Promise top speeds of 225 miles per hour, with a budget of 37.5 billion pounds, it was supposed to boost the economy with a solid benefit cost ratio of 2 pounds 40 for every pound spent. And now, it's shrunk to just the 140 mile stretch between London and Birmingham, with costs ballooning toward 100 billion pounds. Or more, trains won't roll until after 2033 at the earliest, and Houston station might not see them until the 2040s. Taxpayers are fuming over the overruns, especially with the new chief executive, Mark Wilde, pulling in around 660,000 pounds A, year four times the Prime Ministers pay. Still, the project supports 1,500 direct jobs, and 29,000 more indirectly, and Wilde's

1:00got a track record from running cross rail. And the London Underground. Latest twist, the trains are built too fast to test on UK tracks until the full lines ready, which could drag things out years. So they're eyeing a speed cap at 186 miles per hour, matching the channel tunnel trains for testing there instead. A fresh department for transport report says, dialing back the speed could save billions and get service running sooner, easing delivery risks. They're pushing HS2 to prove they can hit targets before loosening the reins.