Description

The first major account of HS2 – and how it went so wrong

‘A jaunty account of a monumental cock-up. Makes the unbelievable readable.’ Sir Michael Palin

‘High-Speed 2’ was to be the crown jewel of British rail. The first Intercity railway built north of London in over a century, it would connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, bridging the North-South divide and propelling Britain’s infrastructure into the twenty-first century.

Dogged by mismanagement, overspending and incompetence, HS2 has collapsed. What remains is a bleeding stump between Birmingham and the outskirts of London – Euston, the central London terminus, still seemingly unreachable. All of this has cost taxpayers tens of billions.

Sally Gimson meets with the politicians, engineers and ordinary people affected by the failure of HS2. Travelling from demolished council estates in Camden to ghost towns along the now cancelled Northern branch, Off the Rails provides a forensic examination of how a vital social project imploded.

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‘Deeply researched.’ Daily Telegraph,

‘Forensic, gripping.’ Sir Ivor Crewe

‘Penetrating, fair and ultimately furious.’ Financial Times

Publisher Review

‘A jaunty account of a monumental cock-up. Makes the unbelievable readable.’ — Sir Michael Palin ‘This book exposes in intricate and cruel detail the scandal that is HS2. The blame may be thickly spread, but Gimson finds the key culprits.’ — Christian Wolmar, author and presenter of ‘Calling All Stations’ podcast ‘A forensic, gripping analysis of the mother of all government blunders which shines an unforgiving light on the structural weakness of the British state.’ — Sir Ivor Crewe, co-author of ‘The Blunders of our Governments’ ‘A pacy, readable and infuriating account of how what started as a bold vision of the future crumbled into an embarrassing failure. Gimson cuts through the noise to offer a clear-eyed and vital explanation of mistakes we must learn from.’ — Peter Apps, author of ‘Show Me the Bodies’ ‘The story of HS2 is a reflection on the failings of the British state not of simply one project or organisation. Neither those against or those of us for it have won – everyone has lost, and this book tells the story of how and why that happened.’ — Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership