Britain's HS2 Is Frankenstein's Railway
How a high-speed rail project became a fiscal monster.
An aerial view the HS2 Curzon No.2 Viaduct on June 18, 2025, in Birmingham, England.
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images EuropeIt's increasingly clear that Britain created a Frankenstein’s monster when it embarked on plans for a high-speed rail network linking London and the north. Once brought into being, it couldn't be controlled. HS2 goes far beyond being a troubled infrastructure mega-project: It is a symbol of hubris and national decline.
Birthed with good intentions, HS2 is more likely to inspire horror and revulsion among those who look upon its face — chiefly for its habit of vaporizing billions of pounds of public money while taking ever longer to deliver a railway. The latest of multiple reviews and resets, and the first to be presented by the Labour government that took office last year, shows that this basic syndrome hasn’t yet changed. The target for services to start will be pushed back beyond its (already delayed) window of 2029 to 2033. No replacement date was given, though the second half of the 2030s now looks probable. No fresh cost estimate was given either, but the final bill is likely to be north of £100 billion ($135 billion) in today’s money — compared with £35 billion in 2010, when the plan called for a much bigger network.