HIGH-speed rail is a shambles, an expensive and destructive white elephant that will never be built – or so you have probably read? Well, I’m here to convince you that almost everything you read is wrong, because this is a project that must go ahead and which – believe it or not – is firmly on track.

HS2, as it is dubbed, has never been popular with the Tory heartlands, but that opposition has become venomous, with Labour’s Lord Mandelson joining in.

There was anger when the bill – to run 225mph trains from London to the North – ballooned from £34.5bn to £42.6bn, making it easy to lampoon as “HS2much”. Before that, a spending watchdog rubbished the business case, arguing there was no evidence it would close the North-South divide or create 100,000 jobs.

Admittedly, these were both heavy blows – but they left the clinching argument for HS2 undamaged: that there will be a desperate need for more trains to carry more passengers up and down the country – and there is no alternative way to meet that demand.

I despair every time David Cameron pops up to claim HS2 will “rebalance the economy”

and is proof of his commitment to better times for the North.

No, there is nothing to suggest HS2 will shift investment North, but, to repeat, that is not the purpose of the project – which is more trains.

Network Rail explored the alternative of upgrades to the existing East and West coast lines – and utterly demolished them. They would:

  • Fail to solve the predicted “capacity gap” on the East Coast line;
  • Fail to meet demand for extra commuter services in the South;
  • Fail to shift freight traffic off roads and on to rail;
  • Require the ripping apart of London’s Euston station, to lengthen platforms – causing massive disruption;
  • Require a “sustained period of regular disruption” on the East and West coast routes;
  • “Severely worsen” shorter connections – leaving some stations with no trains at all;
  • Increase the number of peak-time passengers forced to stand on one jam-packed service out of Euston – from 800 now, to 1,200 (in 2026) and 1,900 (in 2035).

It concluded: “Network Rail considers it unacceptable to undertake a programme of works that would cause this level of disruption….

whilst not solving the overcrowding.”

Of course, this is ignored by the Londonbased Tory press, which screams that HS2 is madness and is doomed. However, Mr Cameron will never kill it – because it gives him an answer to the “What about the North?” question – and Labour has swung behind it. To the Government’s credit, it has boosted planned capital spending on rail after 2015, which means the cash is there without killing all other schemes. Whoever is in No.10 appears certain to go ahead with HS2 – and so they should.

IN David Cameron’s eyes, being a member of the Unite union is an offence graver than running a child slavery ring – and he pounces on any guilty Labour MP. When Durham City’s Roberta Blackman-Woods spoke yesterday, the Prime Minister snapped: “As a member of Unite.” However, he picked the wrong target….because Ms Blackman-Woods is a “proud member of the GMB”.