Railways: High Speed 2 Review
Debate between Lord Hunt of Kings Heath and Lord Popat
Lord Popat
My Lords, we have HS1 and this is HS2. It is in a “Y” shape, so it will go to both the east and the west from the south.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord said that this Government are interested in transparency. Is he aware that we are still waiting for the publication of the risk register about the nonsensical Health and Social Care Act 2012? As to the public interest, does the noble Lord agree that in addition to the issue of speed, the key issue is capacity? The fact is that trains on the current lines going through the Midlands to the north are very full indeed, and capacity has to be dealt with.
Lord Popat
My Lords, since privatisation, capacity has doubled in the past 20 years and hence we have HS2 coming. In the mean time, we are addressing capacity as the number one issue and the whole purpose of HS2.