Understand

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NEW in Understand - Derailed: The Story of HS2

Over 10 episodes, Kate Lamble starts from the beginning, and uncovers the real inside story behind the journey of HS2. From the railwaymen who dreamed it up, through the political crises and politicians who shaped it, the fight to halt it and the mistakes that came to define it.

High Speed Two is the remarkably matter of fact name for Europe's largest infrastructure project. The rail project that started life in 2009 promised to join up London and Birmingham, before splitting into two legs towards Manchester and Leeds. It was a straight line that would send trains whizzing at over 200 miles an hour through the British countryside, with a new train leaving London every few minutes. A massive enterprise that would ease the critical pressure on the West Coast Mainline, and become the envy of the world - a watch word for innovation and ambition. 16 years on, and that dream is in tatters. The two Northern legs have been cancelled, costs have spiralled into dizzying territory and it remains uncertain if and when any trains will ever be running. Environmental groups are furious, with complaints that construction has devastated woodlands and habitats. So too, are local communities, with small villages and family farms bearing the brunt of a programme of compulsory purchases and countryside transformed into building sites. As Prime Ministers and whole political eras came and went, HS2 stuck around as a great dilemma. But each round of scandal and protest was gradually chipping away until it became a shorthand for waste, inefficiency and short-sightedness. So - what went wrong? Kate hears from the people closest to the big decisions and the big impacts, from villages along the line to the levers of power inside HS2 and even Downing Street itself. And as she follows the twists and turns of HS2's tortured path, she explores the reality of why we struggle to build a better future. Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.

• No. of episodes: 48
• Latest episode: 2025-07-07
• Business

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