The Secretary of State for Transport (Justine Greening)

HS2 is entirely consistent with the Government’s objectives for carbon emissions. Electrified rail is a comparatively low-carbon mode of transport, especially with the continued decarbonisation of the grid. Speed increases power consumption, but also makes HS2 more attractive to those currently flying or driving. The faster journeys on HS2—Edinburgh and Glasgow will be just 3.5 hours from London—could transfer around 4.5 million journeys per year who might otherwise have travelled by air and 9 million from the roads. HS2 will also create more rail capacity on existing conventional speed lines for freight—removing lorries from our busy trunk roads. HS2 is therefore an important part of transport’s low-carbon future.

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