According to AFP, on September 4 local time, British high-speed rail line 2 company announced that the construction of high-speed rail line 2 project was officially started, which will create 22000 jobs in the UK in the future, AFP reported.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the project, which will cost more than 100 billion pounds and is mainly funded by the government, will help Britain recover after the outbreak. The project is at the heart of the government's "better reconstruction" programme and will form the backbone of the UK transport network. At the same time, the project will create hundreds of apprentices and thousands of technical jobs, and will boost economic growth and help rebalance employment across the country in the next few years.
According to the plan, the first phase of the British high-speed rail line 2 project will build the section from London to Birmingham, which is expected to be completed around 2028-2031. Phase two will extend northward to Manchester and Liz and is expected to be completed between 2035 and around 2040. After the completion of the high-speed railway, the travel time from London to Bermingham will be reduced from about 1.5 hours to 52 minutes, and the travel time from London to Manchester will also be reduced by about 1 hour. The project leader of the British high-speed rail company believes that this is a big change for the current situation of British transportation.
The British high-speed rail line 2 will speed up train travel between London in southeast England and major cities in northern England, relieve pressure on existing lines and possibly help rebalance the capital centered economy, AFP reported.
It took 10 years for the UK high-speed rail line 2 project from planning to construction. In the 2009 demonstration phase, the project is expected to cost 37.5 billion pounds. And in the official 2015 budget, the cost was close to 56 billion pounds. Last year's government report said the project could cost 106 billion pounds. The project has been put on hold for a long time due to many reasons, such as large quantities, long construction period, historical relics migration along the line, environmental and animal protection, etc.
After Johnson was elected prime minister in July last year, he immediately announced the resumption of the construction evaluation of high-speed rail line 2. In February of this year, Johnson beat the crowd to restart the high-speed rail line 2 project. In April, the project was officially approved by the government. Johnson previously said the high-speed rail line 2 is a key infrastructure project designed to help promote economic development after brexit.
However, opposition figures believe that the British economy has been hit hard by the epidemic and the debt has exceeded 2 trillion pounds. It is still questionable whether it is worthwhile to make a big investment in the high-speed rail project. Some experts also said that although the construction of the high-speed rail line 2 project will generate a lot of carbon emissions and destroy the ancient forest land and wildlife, the electric train of the project may be more environmentally friendly than the plane for similar travel.
British high-speed rail line 2 is the second high-speed rail project in Britain after high-speed rail line 1. The former high-speed rail line 1, formerly known as the channel railway tunnel, is the first dedicated high-speed railway line in Britain, making London and Paris only two hours apart.