Upgrading existing railways instead of building HS2 would cause ‘absurd disruption’ for passengers, Network Rail chief warns

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Mr Haines added: “It’s very easy to talk about alternatives to HS2 but the disruption of doing that.” A previous Network Rail study found that Britain would effectively be left without a functioning intercity rail service at weekends for at least 15 years if it tried to match HS2’s capacity boost by upgrading existing lines. Network Rail’s study found that trying to replicate HS2’s benefits to existing lines with upgrades would require three huge concurrent projects to rebuild the west coast mainline, midland mainline, and east coast mainline. A Network Rail spokesperson said: “Network Rail, as experts in capacity and planning, is helping government to understand the capacity challenges on Britain’s railways and the many options that exist and their potential costs, timescales and consequences.” A decision on whether to go ahead with HS2 is expected in the next few weeks, as the project comes under more pressure aiming rising cost projections. He said he had “a relatively neutral point of view, adding: “We’ll be making a final decision, along with the prime minister and the chancellor, on this very shortly.” Stop HS2 campaign manager Joe Rukin said: “It has been absolutely clear from the outset that HS2 is an unaffordable white elephant that has only got this far because it’s been lobbied for by those with a vested interest in building it, and those idiot politicians who have fallen for their spin and like petulant children keep demanding that it’s not ‘either or’, and that they want everything and the want it now.” Businesses have however reacted with alarm to suggestions that the project should be scrapped or curtailed.