05/12/2011 Inside Out West Midlands

Inside Out. Tonight we challenge the people arguing for and against

high speed rail in the Midlands that they, and not their opponents,

are right. HS2 costs an arm and a leg and it's

not all it's cracked up to be. There is no risk to high speed rail.

The future waits for nobody. The real risk for us is that we miss

the train and end up standing on the platform.

I'm Mary Rhodes, join me on a high Now this week we have handed our

programme with very different views. We gave them each a cameraman,

editor, and director, who, despite years of training in balance and

impartiality, have helped them make unashamedly partizan pieces. The

first film comes from Simon Topman There are a lot of myths

surrounding the proposals of High Speed Rail, many of them arising

through a fear of change, but change is what powers progress.

From canal boats to steam power, spaghetti junction to an

International airport, for centuries our economy has relied on

a sophisticated network of transport. To its opponents, High

Speed Rail is an expensive risk we can't afford to take they believe

that High Speed Rail is not necessary for our future

development. But just like the Victorian's and their magnificent

railways, the only risk in this High Speed Rail proposal, is not

getting on board at all. The West Coast Railway was built in the

1840s and has been the backbone of the network ever since. The use of

the West Coast Mainline has more than doubled in recent years and it

now carries more than 28m passengers every year. What is the

biggest problem with the West Coast Mainline? The line massively over

capacity, it is one of the busiest passenger lines in the country.

WCML is carrying freight services, long distance, regional & local

services all on one track it's like cramming the M6 into a single lane.

So, why don't they simply have more trains? More trains mean high speed

rail and less stops. How are the passengers at Coventry Station

benefit from HS2? Are they going to miss out because they are not

connected to it? Absolutely not. Many of the people will find the

new Birmingham Interchange line even more convenient to them, with

very fast services. At Coventry, trains will become less crowded and

with new services in Birmingham, better cross-country services.

if HS2 doesn't stop at your station you will benefit. Opponents of HS2

have suggested alternatives, but none of them will deal with

overcrowding. That is not just an issue form West Coast Mainline, but

for local commuter services. rarely get a seat on the way home,

I don't even try. I am tetchy, want my tea, and I have paid �3,500 for

a season ticket. I hated being a moany British person, but it is not

on. A rail executive tells me more about the problem. We are already

having some of our commuter services pushed out of the way by

the big trains. What this will allow us to do is have a lot more

commuter services, and intergrated network. Opponents tell us that the

Eastside station is too far away, but a tram network will connect it.

So HS2 is not designed as an isolated rich man's toy, it's part

of an integrated transport strategy that will revolutionise our future,

getting the freight off the roads and onto the railways and

mobilising our work force. People want better access to jobs to

enable us to connect to skilled workforce. With youth unployment

raching one million, HS2 could provide much needed jobs in the

region. It could provide 22,000 jobs to area, not just in the

construction of the line and staffing the various hubs but by

attracting new investors and mobilising our workforce. The value

to the public? A wage increase of up to �300 per annum as demand for

our workforce increases their value. They're impressive figures, and as

the West Midlands falls within phase one of the project, our

economy & skilled workforce will begin to benefit from the moment

construction begins in 2017 Look at Jaguar Landrover. On it's knees

just 4 years ago, now thriving. The difference is investment. We need

to invest in the railways, now, before it is too late. If you

invest you will progress. Opponents tell us that HS2 will mean better

connections to London, leading to a brain-drain. Leading cooperate law

firms disagree. We have lower operating costs, their will be

people coming out of London, like the 90s. The cost is �2bn per annum

this is currently being spent in London on Crossrail so come 2017

those funds will be diverted & just like that upgrade, this is not

going to impact on budgets or commitments to the road network and

other services. They are saying to us, we will continue spending this

money and we want to spend it in your region. That sounds great.

fact the west Midlands expect a financial return from HS2, but that

doesn't mean we shouldn't be wary of big cost project like this,

after all it's a massive investment, and it needs scrutinising. But look

at the fuss we made over the development of the NEC. They called

it a white elephant and feared it would draw money away from the city

& towns that surround it, but look at it now. They opened this in 1976

and got so much aggro. We need to be brave now. The NEC now

contribute �2 billion to the west midlands economy every year.

Employers are telling us they want to invest, and it would be a

disaster not to have it. It would be a disaster for Birmingham, Sony

jobs not creative. People who create jobs and wealth are telling

us they would like to relocate to Birmingham, a roundabout new

station, and not having it will stagnate, and possibly put the

Birmingham economy back. You can look at the costs of HS2. So the

question is not what will it cost and can we afford it,' the question

is can we really afford NOT to have Convinced? Hogwash, say opponents.

Perhaps I should say Hogwarts, as you may spot a few famous faces

from Harry Potter as we move on to the film by Warwickshire's Jerry

Marshall, a chair of a coalition trying to derail HS2.

HS2 costs an arm and a leg and it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm

not alone. Across the country, groups, business people and MPs

across the political spectrum have been outspoken in their criticism.

In Europe high speed rail lines are closing or going bankrupt. The high

speed line in Kent cost the taxpayer billions and is only

attracting 30% of the passengers they originally predicted. I'm a

businessman and I can see the case for this simply doesn't stack up.

And there are much better alternatives. The problem is, HS2

doesn't do what it says on the tin for most Midlands travellers. High

speed isn't high speed if your door to door journey time is slower Now

you can get from Coventry to London in under an hour. But if the new

high speed rail plans go ahead it'll take longer. But these

services will be cut back and for Coventrians to use HS2, they'll

have to get a train to Birmingham International, another train to the

new HS2 station - and finally, the HS2 train itself to London. What is

the sense in that? But Coventry's not the only problem. For those

arriving here at the proposed HS2 station on Curzon Street in

Birmingham.. If you want to go on anywhere else in the region you'll

have to drag all your luggage to here, New Street Station. I am

trying to find New Street Sations. -- station. Do you know where it is.

I make that a 20 minute walk. What is the point? So the government

invest half a billion pounds for every minute you save getting to

Birmingham at high speed then you lose it spending 20 minutes walking

at 3mph probably in the rain to catch your next train. I think the

real problem with HS2 though is the cost. In this parliament alone the

link will cost us nearly 1 billion pounds just on planning! That money

is vital from frontline services. We need that money for schools and

hospitals, a far better use of money. We were supposed to have got

350 million, which would have reinvented every set secondary

school in the country. Far better than destroying the green belt, and

put in train lines were people do not need them. Is HS2 a good

investment for Coventry City Council? That's �1700 per household,

is that a bargain? There are other options. Do you think that is good

value? That is quite a lot. �1,700 per household, a Great Train

System? Is that a bargain? No way. People can have other options.

Instead of them putting the money into that, they should put it into

community centres for children. She's right going ahead with high

speed will mean cutting vital lifelines for some of the poorest

and most vulnerable. Meanwhile you and I are coughing up to pay for

what the former Transport Secretary admits is a service for a wealthy

minority. Uncomfortable fact number perhaps number one is that the

railway is already relatively a rich man's toy. People who use the

railway on average have significantly higher incomes than

the population as a whole, simple fact. HS2 is totally the wrong

priority. But if the project was going to create jobs and growth in

the Midlands it might be a price worth paying. We certainly need

something to get us out of this mess. We really needed jobs and

growth. Are you kidding, the cat that close, over there. It is a

disaster. We don't need it to turn into even more of a backwater.

The Department of Transport says it will create a 42,000 more jobs,

good news? No. Most of these will not be new jobs, just transfers of

existing jobs. The Department of Transport says most the jobs will

be in London. Some say HS2 will actually reduce the number of jobs.

Take here. The rusty benefit, with investment -- for us to benefit

with investment, we need a new track between Coventry and

Birmingham. That would give us benefits in every respect.

Employment and connectivity. That would be effective. We are just

investing in a narrow stretch of high-speed railway, that will not

help the rest of the country. HS2 is not going to boost the

productivity, growth or jobs in the Midlands. There is another area

where we are being misled, that his capacity. -- that his capacity. We

are told we are going to run at capacity between London, Birmingham

and Glasgow. Images like this do not tell the whole story. There is

a capacity issue at some times are the day. That is not to do with

fundamental capacity. That is when the off-peak fares become available.

It is the time where people prefer to travel. As Philip Hammond said,

the fares are so expensive people can't afford to use them. We don't

need a whole new line, just increasing the carriages from five

to nine would improve services. It is a simple as that. -- as simple.

The demand can be met on the existing route. HS2 would be a

disaster for the nation's finances. There is another massive cost. 51

ancient woodlands, wildlife, and areas of outstanding natural beauty

would be lost. All set to be ploughed up by this scheme. We need

efficient transport systems, but not at the expense of the

environment. What, in the end, would be more valuable to our

children, and grandchildren? A slightly faster journey to London,

or our countryside? Technology holds the key to the real option. I

can link up to these films stars from the Harry Potter films from

half way around the world. There is no magic involved. Unless you need

to hold something in your hand, there is no in real need to leave

the office. -- no real need. degree of me there is no need to

spend that money. It is greater to speak to these guys, from where I'm

speaking high-speed broadband is much more valuable. -- from where I

am sitting. We need to be much more prudent. With no capacity crunch

for decades, we have time to sort out the real rail priorities, and

get the next stage right. Ask yourself this, do you want the

government to spend �1,700 of your money for a single rail line with a

dodgy business case? Could be money be better spent? -- of the money be

better spent. Write your MP and ask them to kill this.

Two films, to well-argued cases -- two well-argued cases. You can

comment on our Facebook page. Heres our final film. I take a trip back

in time to find out something about our quest for faster trains.

This is the story of how we went from this, to this. Via this. And

almost a best. -- almost as this. It is the story how Our Railways

modernised the nation. This is a history of high-speed rail.

The coronation. Approve of what can be done, a train back goes faster

than 70 mph. Britain got its first taste of high-speed rail in the

1930s. This was only for the higher classes, everybody else has

travelled slowly. This represented a time when our railways were the

envy of the world. By then, the world had moved on. This was the

decade when the engineers across the decade develops newer, faster

trains. Some did not take-off, but looks like they might. Others did.

Back home, British Rail fell behind, they needed a spark. And

electrification brought faster rail travel. Rail times almost halved.

This was modernisation. The reality was that once they had done their

showpiece project, the West Coast mainline, the wider economy was

suffering. British Rail found themselves have a difficult problem,

how were they going to compete against the rising tide of

motorways, how were they going to survive into the future, let alone

develop a bold new future? The answer was the Advanced

Passenger Train, or so it seemed. It used revolutionary tilting

technology. The train is designed to iron the bumps out. It was not

such a smooth ride. It suffered mechanical problems. Some

passengers complained of feeling sick. It was scrapped soon after

launch. It looks as good as any motor car, a Ferrari. It was not

the end of the dream. Another fast train was being designed.

railway decided, perhaps in parallel, to design a more simple

train. It was a prototype. It set a new world record. The diesel-

powered InterCity was certainly fast. Few realise how successful it

would be. I would not have put money on it lasting as long as it

did. The one to five defied the odds, and turned around at the

railways. -- turned around at the railways. It is a success story,

the most important trained in the history of Britain's railways in

the second half of the 20th century. They took the basic technology, and

delivered a high-speed rail service. It was the low-cost answer to the

high-speed train. But even this to the train had its limits. The

InterCity was fast, it revolutionised rail. But while

trains in Japan did more than 140 mph, our busy Victorian

infrastructure meant we could not go faster than 125. Japan in the

1960s, they built a new railway line. They were so overcrowded,

they have to build new trains. We could not delay in this country, we

could not afford it. -- we could not do it in this country.

answer was to build a new railway lines. Money was tight, but British

Rail plan to do that. The Channel Tunnel from London to Kent would be

high-speed rail in its truest sense. What do they want to do here?

wanted to put it here. Not everyone embraced this revolution. It went

through villages like this one in Kent. British Rail bought up the

houses, but it divided the community. It was devastating.

Neighbours were able to sell, the others couldn't. A be created a bad

atmosphere. -- it created a bad atmosphere. It split families. Some

end up in the divorce court. approaches London from the east,

and terminate at King's Cross! -- terminates. It had a lasting effect,

they changed the line. It has taken a long time. What you think of the

line-out? It is all right. I have been on it a couple of times. All

of that for 20 minutes between Paris, was it worth it. -- was it

worth it? The Channel tunnel is now run by a separate company. It is

huge. It is the same as the first 100 mph train. You have daily

services cruising over 200 mph. It revolutionised well-travelled.

history of high-speed train travel in Britain is long, and sometimes

controversial. We could go faster, reduce journey times, but for that

to happen, something has to change. The question raised, just how much

of a change is anyone prepared to accept. The options for the future

are, we either go for High Speed Two, which would release capacity,

all we changed the network to cope with the amount of traffic. We

cannot do nothing. Will start to go backwards. -- we will start to go