Between the Lines

When the coalition government took forward High Speed 2 after the 2010 election, as well as the Euston route the project included a direct branch to Heathrow and a link to High Speed 1, via a single line connection to the North London line. The business case for both these links was actually dreadful, but it was argued both were strategically vital. Indeed, the project as a whole, and in particular the Heathrow branch, was part of a pitch by the Conservatives that HS2 was an alternative to expanding Heathrow – a proposition that didn’t stand up to analysis for a moment.