Author : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher : The Stationery Office
ISBN 13 : 9780215046673
Total Pages : 60 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (466 download)
Book Synopsis The completion and sale of High Speed 1 by : Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Download or read book The completion and sale of High Speed 1 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-07-06 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The high speed railway linking London to the Channel Tunnel, known as High Speed 1, has now been fully open for almost five years and has had a good performance record. There have also been some costly mistakes. The Department originally expected London & Continental Railways Limited (LCR) to service the project debt from future revenues from Eurostar UK. However by the end of 1997 revenues were substantially below LCR's forecasts. Consequently, in 1998, the Department agreed to restructure the deal and guarantee most of LCR's debt. The taxpayer is now servicing and repaying the project debt of £4.8 billion. Passenger demand for international services on the line has been much lower than forecast and that is the root cause of the failure of the original deal. Planning assumptions failed to properly consider the impact on passenger numbers of the growth of low cost airlines and the competitive response of ferry companies. The Department still does not have plans in place to evaluate fully the impact of HS1. Total taxpayer support for the line, over a 60 year period to 2070, has an estimated present value of £10.2 billion. Benefits for passengers from shorter journey times over this period have an estimated present value of £7 billion. The basis of this cost/benefit analysis, however, is open to challenge. Also the Department will need to evaluate HS1's regeneration benefits and wider economic impacts worth many billions of pounds if the project is to demonstrate value for money. The Department must also learn the lessons as it develops its plans for HS2.