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High Speed 2 railway would cost one-third less if built in France, says
mastermind behind project

   Sir David Higgins is set to give little detail on costs in his report
   on the second phase of HS2
     * Mark Leftly @MLeftly
     * Sunday 26 October 2014 00:00 {{^moreThanTen}}
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   the journey time to 49 minutes, and is due for completion by 2026

   Sir David Higgins, the mastermind behind the High Speed 2 railway,
   believes that an equivalent track in France would come in at one-third
   of the cost.

   The HS2 Ltd chairman led a delegation to south-west France in the
   summer to look into why the 302km Tours-Bordeaux high-speed line, and
   38km of connecting lines to the existing rail network, cost little more
   than £6bn.

   A source close to HS2 said that even after “stripping out” differences
   in topography and expensive new stations, such as a hub in Crewe, “the
   comparisons with France were not good, kilometre for kilometre”.
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   It is understood that Sir David will give little detail on costs in his
   report on the second phase of HS2, a Y-shaped route linking Birmingham
   to Manchester and Leeds, because of that visit. He has challenged his
   team to find ways of reducing costs in Phase Two, and he recently
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   Tomorrow, George Osborne, the Chancellor, will announce plans for what
   has been dubbed HS3, a line across the Pennines that would act as a
   major economic boost to the North. Writing on page 42 today, the Shadow
   Chancellor, Ed Balls, and former Transport secretary Lord Adonis