Swiss would never stand for the cuckoo failings of HS2

Simon Calder on what we could learn from Scandi strategy

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“Eighteen years in, we still don’t have a design for Euston,” laments Thomas Ableman. “And then we wondered why the cost ballooned.” He is, of course, talking about HS2: the high-speed railway linking London Euston with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

Regrettably, you can forget about the last two cities; those crucial spurs were scrapped under the last government in an attempt to save money amid ballooning costs, while seeking votes from motorists.

You can also forget for now about trains starting and ending at Euston in central London. With no design for the terminus station (and currently no cash to build it), when HS2 finally opens a decade or more from now, it will be a shuttle between a place called Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham.

Whether you are a passenger, a taxpayer or a resident of one of the locations being dug up for ever-diminishing national benefits, you have the right to be furious at a succession of politicians who have created the world's greatest example of how not to manage a vast infrastructure project.

Within the transport world, everyone has an opinion on who is to blame. But Mr Ableman is different. He has had a distinguished career with Transport for London, Chiltern Railways and National Express, and created an intercity startup named Snap. He writes and podcasts about delivering better mobility. And his best blog this summer is called: “This is how the Swiss would have done HS2”.