Off The Rails: The Inside Story of HS2

by Sally Gimson

‘High Speed 2’ was to be the crown jewel of British rail

Bringing the antiquated and unreliable north-west line up to date, it would connect central London with Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham, reducing travel time and combatting the North–South divide. It was, however, not to be. Dogged by mismanagement, overspending and incompetence, HS2 has collapsed, reduced to a much smaller line connecting Birmingham with the outskirts of London – Euston, the central London terminus, still seemingly unreachable. All of this has cost taxpayers around sixty-six billion pounds.

In a forensic examination of how the project imploded, Sally Gimson meets with the politicians, engineers and ordinary people affected by the failure of HS2. From those whose business and houses were compulsorily bought to make room for the line to the scattering of ghost towns which punctuate the now cancelled Northern branch, Off the Rails offers a thorough and scathing account of how a vital project was overcome by government mismanagement.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, British Literature

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2025

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, accessible overview of the HS2 project. I'd highly recommend.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an HS2 hater, this book was music to my ears at first. It documents the relentless incompetence of the whole enterprise right from the start under the various jurisdictions. The lack of a clear goal, paucity of engineering knowledge from decision makers, and the sidelining of the project by endless Brexit/Covid shenanigans and numerous ministerial changes and elections. Overlapping jurisdictions and competing remits make it sound very rudderless; the only certainty is that the government picked up the ever-growing bill.

The author is a Labour councillor (in London, somewhat ironically) and at some point her relatively neutral story becomes highly critical of individuals, especially Rishi Sunak, whom she rather emotionally accuses of "betraying" HS2 due to his decision to cancel the Northern leg. I am guessing this shift in tone corresponds to her own period in office. I hate HS2, so I regard it as Sunak's finest hour, but then I, too, am biased. His decision, though it is fair, did make the whole thing even more pointless than it already was.

Whatever your take on HS2, this is a very good account of the chaos, which is far from over, and there will be many more twists and turns yet. Doubtless, there are lessons learned, both how to scupper plans from protestors (who played their part well in pushing up the costs and contributing to the partial downfall), as well as how to undertake a project of this scale properly in the first place (which the author concludes with).

[Tom Roberton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really insightful account of how our first mega infrastructure project in decades was bungled and increasingly doomed to fail as development progressed.

A project that could and should have been the centrepiece to transforming the economy, building houses, and catalysing industrial renewal in Northern cities and towns like Crewe.

It’s a bit depressing that we’ve got to a point where this project is maligned and the general consensus seems to be that the preferable option should have been to pursue tinkering with Victorian-era infrastructure or not bothered at all. All whilst other countries continue to build out world class transport infrastructure that will help stave of the stagnation synonymous with Britain today.

I’d wager the Shinkansen (bullet train) toys will sell more successfully in John Lewis than its British counterpart.

[Hugo Collingridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

An (intentionally) infuriating book that makes one despair that this country is capable of building anything new at all. The author does a good job of explaining everything that went wrong with HS2, from politicians trying to will it into existence without consulting with anyone, to anti HS2 writers who don't seem to understand the need to connect the North better with the rest of the country. Plus revealing interviews with people who have been affected by it. Having said all of that, I learned that these things are often messed up, not just in Britain. I still think that a national high speed rail link is a great idea but it's hard to defend the way this one has been handled. And the way the previous government abandoned places like Crewe by cancelling the northern leg was criminal.

[John Noakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this excellent book about the failures (and there are many of them) of the HS2 project.

It should be categorised in bookshops under the Horror section!

Not recommended if you are in any way already angry or frustrated with the UK’s intentions to design, build and implement major infrastructure projects on time and to budget as reading this book will make you even angrier and even more frustrated 🤷‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

But it’s a compelling read with disastrous decisions and consequences almost on every page!

[Mark Claxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of how the HS2 project developed and suffered from political indecision and inteference across its development lifecycle.

Would have been even better if it had explored the contractual structures used and impacts of COVID on productivity and materials in a quantitative manner as well as the passing qualitative analysis included.

[Ellis Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A depressing account of how this country cannot build anything but dubai chocolate housing estates.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty damning indictment of how big infrastructure projects are (mis)handled.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and even handed account of a mortgage government project that turned into a disaster.

[kanelzorra · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s an easy read with some pretty shocking anecdotes, but the analysis and interviews are pretty thin