The first major account of HS2 - and how it went so wrong
'A jaunty account of a monumental cock-up. Makes the unbelievable readable.' Sir Michael Palin
'High-Speed 2' was to be the crown jewel of British rail. The first intercity railway built north of London in over a century, it would connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, bridging the North-South divide and propelling Britain's infrastructure into the twenty-first century.
Dogged by mismanagement, overspending and incompetence, HS2 has collapsed. What remains is a bleeding stump between Birmingham and the outskirts of London - Euston, the central London terminus, still seemingly unreachable. All of this has cost taxpayers tens of billions.
Sally Gimson meets with the politicians, engineers and ordinary people affected by the failure of HS2. Travelling from demolished council estates in Camden to ghost towns along the now cancelled Northern branch, Off the Rails provides a forensic examination of how a vital social project imploded.
***
'Deeply researched.' Daily Telegraph, ????
'Forensic, gripping.' Sir Ivor Crewe
'Penetrating, fair and ultimately furious.' Financial Times
| ISBN: | 9781836430179 |
| Publication date: | 28th August 2025 |
| Author: | Sally Gimson |
| Publisher: | Oneworld an imprint of Oneworld Publications |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Genres: |
Central / national / federal government policies Urban rail transit systems Travel guides: rail travel Travel guides: routes and ways Civil service and public sector Transport planning and policy Railway technology, engineering and trades Trains and railways: general interest Public administration |
The first major account of HS2 - and how it went so wrong
'A jaunty account of a monumental cock-up. Makes the unbelievable readable.' Sir Michael Palin
'High-Speed 2' was to be the crown jewel of British rail. The first intercity railway built north of London in over a century, it would connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, bridging the North-South divide and propelling Britain's infrastructure into the twenty-first century.
Dogged by mismanagement, overspending and incompetence, HS2 has collapsed. What remains is a bleeding stump between Birmingham and the outskirts of London - Euston, the central London terminus, still seemingly unreachable. All of this has cost taxpayers tens of billions.
Sally Gimson meets with the politicians, engineers and ordinary people affected by the failure of HS2. Travelling from demolished council estates in Camden to ghost towns along the now cancelled Northern branch, Off the Rails provides a forensic examination of how a vital social project imploded.
***
'Deeply researched.' Daily Telegraph, ????
'Forensic, gripping.' Sir Ivor Crewe
'Penetrating, fair and ultimately furious.' Financial Times
Off the Rails features in the following genres: Central / national / federal government policies, Urban rail transit systems, Travel guides: rail travel, Travel guides: routes and ways, Civil service and public sector, Transport planning and policy, Railway technology, engineering and trades, Trains and railways: general interest, Public administration
Off the Rails is available in Paperback, Hardback
Off the Rails was written by Sally Gimson and published by Oneworld an imprint of Oneworld Publications
Off the Rails has 272 pages
£17.09