What killed HS2? Explaining the loss of political support for the UK’s high-speed rail megaproject

Bibliographic Data

ID6417201
AuthorsDan Durrant (corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume18
Issue2
Pages359-370
Publication date2025-05-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1752-1386 • E-ISSN: 1752-1378
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/cjres/rsaf005
OpenAlexW4410599836
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited39

Through the case of a hegemonic discourse formed around the UK’s cancelled mega-transport project High-Speed Two (HS2), this paper analyses the circumstances of its abandonment. The acquisition and loss of symbolic power are explained through different master and meta narratives. Mechanisms are identified through which HS2 became an ‘empty signifier’ temporarily filled with symbolic value, standing for different policy aspirations to rebalance the UK’s economy. Political speeches and the construction of narratives show how meta narratives around the project shifted and its symbolic value ebbed away to the point the project symbolised failure as opposed to ambition. Thus, when rising costs altered the ratio of costs to benefits, this narrative of failure was available to legitimate HS2’s cancellation

Economics · Management · Megaproject · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Public-Private Partnership Projects · Underground infrastructure and sustainability · Law

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