Last year the Taxpayers’ Alliance announced the winners of the “Great British Transport Competition“ to find popular, better value for money alternatives to HS2. They found 50 transport infrastructure project ideas that were better value for money than HS2. The winning project ideas had construction costs came to £45.1 billion – which is less than half the under-estimated budget for HS2. Ahead of the Cabinet decision on HS2, Guido thought we would list the projects again… eagle-eyed MPs will note the constituencies that will benefit.
Many of the entries required only relatively small sums of money to achieve vast benefits for local communities with the potential for dramatically transforming the transport infrastructure nationally, not only in the Midlands.
| Project | Cost £ |
| A1 – Dual Carriageway From Durham to Edinburgh | 1,300,000,000 |
| Reopen the Skipton-Colne Railway Line | 100,000,000 |
| Reopen the Beverley to York Railway | 300,000,000 |
| Ashington, Blyth & Tyne Railway | 50,000,000 |
| Britain’s S-Bahn Network: Leeds | 1,000,000,000 |
| Reopen the Keswick to Penrith Railway | 110,000,000 |
| Upgrade The Settle & Carlisle Railway | 30,000,000 |
| Reopen Blackburn to Hellifield | 15,000,000 |
| High Speed UK-North | 18,100,000,000 |
| The Whitacre Link | 400,000,000 |
| Reopen Stourbridge to Lichfield | 120,000,000 |
| Upgrade the Rugby to Birmingham Railway Line | 1,500,000,000 |
| Upgrade the A5 to expressway standard | 500,000,000 |
| Reopen the Sutton Park Line to passengers | 100,000,000 |
| Chiltern Main Line Electrification | 1,000,000,000 |
| Midland Main Line Electrification | 5,000,000,000 |
| Improve the Felixstowe to Nuneaton Freight Route | 1,500,000,000 |
| Reopen The March to Wisbech Line to passengers | 110,000,000 |
| A new station on the Bury St Edmunds to Ely Line | 40,000,000 |
| Extend Crossrail to Stansted Airport & Cambridge | 4,000,000,000 |
| Lower Thames Crossing | 6,800,000,000 |
| Brighton Mainline 2: Sussex Phase | 500,000,000 |
| Improve Connectivity to Bristol Temple Meads | 125,000,000 |
| Rebuild Cullompton Station | 15,000,000 |
| Exeter to Plymouth via Okehampton | 500,000,000 |
| Reopen the Bodmin to Wadebridge Railway Line | 25,000,000 |
| Cross Cornwall Rail Link | 125,000,000 |
| Build cycle paths next to motorways & A-roads | 1,820,000,000 |
Many of these projects will take only 3 years or less to complete, providing concrete evidence of action on transport which can be delivered before the next election, unlike HS2. Not that Guido is cynically suggesting that electoral calculations should play a role, the projects stand on their own merits…
Download the full details of all the winning projects here.
