The FT is this morning running an interview I did earlier in the week with Philip Hammond, the transport secretary.
There’s a news story where he reveals his plan to sell the completed HS2 track to infrastructure funds within a year of it being built. This is likely to be a lease similar to the HS1 (London to Channel Tunnel) 30-year concession sold last year. The secretary of state also predicts that the new line could force down prices on the West Coast Mainline as its operator is forced to compete.
There’s also an analysis piece - “Luddites are wrong over railway” – where Hammond makes clear his disdain for the protesters against the project, comparing them to the people who opposed the Victorian railways because it could scare away livestock and ruin Britain’s agriculture. (Although I used the word “Luddite”, not him).
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey