Great Britain. Rail. The largest infrastructure project in Europe has started

The construction of the HS2 high-speed line, which is to connect London with the north of England, has started. It is currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe. The construction, however, is controversial. On Friday, the British capital held a protest by the Extinction Rebellion group of climate activists against the construction of the railway.

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As announced by the British government, the construction will allow for the creation of 22 thousand. new jobs, and the line itself, when it is ready, will make it possible to reduce the development disproportions between the north and south of the country.

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The high-speed line will first connect London with Birmingham, and in the second phase will be continued by two arms – to Manchester and Leeds. This would shorten the journey from the capital to Birmingham from 1 hour. 21 minutes to 52 minutes, and from London to Manchester – from 2 hours. 7 minutes to 1 hour 7 minutes.

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– As the backbone of our country’s transport network, this project will be of key importance for increasing connectivity between our cities. But the transformative potential of HS2 goes even further. By creating hundreds of apprenticeships and thousands of jobs for qualified employees, HS2 will stimulate economic growth and help restore the balance of opportunities in this country for years to come, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the inauguration.

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Construction of the HS2 railwaypress materials

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Controversies

But the project is controversial for several reasons. Firstly, it is significantly delayed at the start, because the idea of building such a railway was created in 2009-10. According to the original assumptions, the first section was to be built by 2026, and further branches – by 2032-33. The current version assumes that the first section will run trains in the years 2028-2031 at the earliest, and the second phase will be built by 2035-2040.

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The second issue is rising costs. In the initial phase of the project, the then coalition government of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats assumed that the entire project would cost just over £ 31 billion. In 2017, when the project was approved by the parliament and preliminary work began, the budget was set at PLN 56 billion. In September 2019, the government estimated that construction costs would be 81-88 billion, and according to a government report from January this year, there is a “significant risk” that it will rise to 106 billion.

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In addition, there is the issue of potential damage to the natural environment related to the necessity to clear forests or route tracks through naturally valuable areas, as well as the usefulness of such a railway. Its opponents had previously pointed out that instead of building a high-speed railway, a better idea was to develop connections between individual cities in the north of England. Arguments about usefulness have gained importance especially in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, which has changed the way many people work and mobility is now not as important as the ability to work remotely.

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The government, however, emphasizes that the UK is lagging behind countries such as France, Spain or Germany on high-speed rail, which is a development barrier, especially for the North of England, and the coronavirus epidemic should not be an argument as the project is calculated for the next decades.

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A protest in London against the construction of the HS2 railwayPAP/EPA/WILL OLIVE

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On Friday, a group of climate activists from the Extinction Rebellion (XR) organization protested against the construction of the HS2. The day before, as part of the protest, XR representatives stuck to the entrances to the British parliament, and the police made several arrests – Reuters reported.

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On Tuesday, activists from Extinction Rebellion launched a 10-day protest campaign in London and other British cities, aimed at drawing attention to the problem of climate change.

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A protest in London against the construction of the HS2 railwayPAP/EPA/WILL OLIVER

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photo-source">Main photo source: PAP/EPA/WILL OLIVE

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Great Britain. Rail. The largest infrastructure project in Europe has started

Controversies

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