I recently attended a webinar on turning around mega projects hosted by the Association of Project Management (APM), which made me think about why HS2 will have some serious issues.This obviously made me think of the upcoming challenges of HS2 and also the delays encountered by Crossrail.


The webinar is now on YouTube and can be viewed here:


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What do I mean by, Fail, Fail & Succeed.


Well any project is in a balance defined by that well known concept of the project triangle: the Cost, the Timescale & the Scope. what I mean is that the project is bound to be over budget, (it has already been revised up, and will be again and again), it will also be late to planned timescales, which will slip multiple times during it's life-cycle. however, ultimately the scope will be delivered. there may be some changes, but the main outputs of of a high speed rail link will be delivered. More importantly the outcome of a rail link that is used by many people will happen.


Corona virus may change the appetite to use public transport in the short term but once a vaccine is in use things will return to normal. that normal being that rail service capacity is not meeting demand. Rail services powered by renewable electricity has to be a more attractive ecological option than air, at least until we get electric planes, which is some way off, for medium distance travel. The journeys at each end are likely to be fulfilled by electric autonomous (driver-less) taxis, buses and local rail and tram systems. Thus ultimately HS2 and HS3 will be essential parts of a new integrated transport landscape.


People may be travelling less for business and more for leisure in the future, as teleconferencing has been accelerated by Covid 19, although it will still be necessary to be there sometimes, therefore I still believe the need will be there.


Happy to hear what others think