HS2 Railway Project
The rise of the world population and the changing needs of the Allows organisations as well as government bodies to opt for modern ways of communication and develop the networking further to enhance the overall communication streams through which humans interact on a daily basis.
It is by observing the need of the people to travel from one place to the other in the more faster and luxurious manner the project of HS2 Railway network has been initiated in Britain (High Speed 2, 2020).
Although UK is having a great transportation in terms of its railway networks the introduction of the project showed me lights and dreams of traveling faster and in a more comfortable manner in between the major British cities of London, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.
This particular paper intends to gather secondary sources of information from several government reports, newspaper Journal articles, and previously pursued researchers that will help in understanding the issues relating to the HS2 railway project of Great Britain.
The paper intends to overview the ages to railway project in brief, that will be followed by a critical elucidation of the various factors that have accounted for the delays of the project. It has been observed through various sources that there are various ethical and sustainable issues relating to the project that hinders in breaching the goals of the railway project in a more effective manner.
The paper intends to develop critical understanding on the. Steams and draw some recommendations an final words on whether the project should be continued or not
Overviewing the HS2 railway project
After the opening of the high speed 1 railway networks that connects London with the Channel Islands in the mid 2000, the latest proposal of the High Speed 2 railway network has been introduced by the Department of Transport of the United Kingdom recently (Podkolinski, 2019).
It is through the High Speed 2 railway networks that London is going to be connected with the major Midland cities of England that comprises of Metropolitan cities like Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, and a few others on route.
It is through the HS2 Railway project at the country’s Department of Transportation is trying to improve the overall communication between the people of the nation (Cornet et al., 2018).
It has been estimated that the high speed trains will Cover more than 330 miles of distance and will run with a speed of 360 kilometres per hour. However the Transport Minister Grant Shapps had decaled that the overall construction of the railway network would get delayed to give more years and would be available to people between 2028 to 2031 (Phillips, 2017). Predominant reasons for the delays are critically elucidated and discussed in the content hereafter.
Critically elucidating the factors that have accounted for the delays
It was planned that the overall HS2 railway network will be constructed and run in phases. The first phase will be the first network that will connect London with Birmingham followed by Phase 2A and 2B that will be constructed and gradually come into active use with time.
However, the predominant reason for the delay has been the issue of overpriced and over budget that is observed through several matters. When the construction planning was initially started the budget was fixed on certain amounts that was later increased (Pilmmer, 2019).
According to the views of the transport minister Grant Shapps of Great Britain, It can be stated that the initial budget of the railway construction was around 62 billion pounds that was increased between 82billion pounds and 88 billion pounds (politics.co.uk, 2020).
It has been observed through the reports of the minister and the government bodies that the initial budget was not sufficient in estimating the difficulties and challenges that the construction planners later faced while estimating the railway network locations.
It must be noted that the railway tracks are going to be crossing through several cities and places that are highly populated and covered with many agricultural and green lands as well (Phillips, 2017). The initial budget was simply not adequate in estimating the different hindrances that later emerged.
The original plan also did not account for the overall construction, and that signifies the fact that the planning was extremely weak and lacked in constructive and strategic research work that could have helped in eradicating the issue and the overall delay of the project.
Another factor that has emerged relates to the unrealistic schedule and the overall budget of the project that was set by the planners at the very initial stage of the construction planning process (D’Silva, 2020). Not only this, but also the benefits of the project was much underestimated and understated by the planners.
As per the reports of the BBC network, it can be stated that both the government as well as the railway construction planners were fully aware that the overall budget as well as the target schedule was completely unrealistic even before the construction was about to start.
There has been a significant negligence from both the government as well as the construction planners and managers in understanding the value and significance of. Pursuing this entire project and fixing the right target and budget to fulfil the objectives.
Critically discussing the ways the delays could have been avoided
In terms of understanding the different ways that would have helped in saving the project from the delays, it must be noted that a strategic and highly sustainable construction project planning would have been helpful much.
The two most important factors that were neglected by the planning committee and the government relates to budget and the schedule. In terms of project management, both budget and time are essential factors in estimating the overall success of any project (Hobson et al., 2017).
It needs to be noted that in order to eradicate the delays of the project, a specific strategy on hiring an effective budget committee could have been highly beneficial.
The committee could have pursued independent research in understanding the overall budget and provided a clear understanding of the overall financial expenditure in order to fulfil the basic objectives of the project (May and Tyler, 2016). Reports have also shown that both the government as well as the planning committee neglected the value of the targeted schedule as well as the overall budget and that they were unrealistic in practical sense.
The delays could have also been avoided by modifying the entire project at the very initial stage by making it highly ethical and sustainable in nature. It must be noted that the project has been criticised for its unethical and unsustainable approaches that are discussed in next section of the paper (Calder, 2020).
Estimating the right schedule and gaining which sources of funding would have helped in avoiding the delays as the five year delays has caused major Financial losses for the entire British railway transportation department.
Critical analysis of the ethical and sustainable issues relating to the project
Prior to estimating the ethical and the sustainable issues that are related to the H2S Railway Network Project, the particular content is intended to discuss the stakeholder theory that is much important in relation to this theme of discussion.
According to the stakeholder theory, each organization is required to benefit all their stakeholders in an equal and ethical manner (Topham, 2020). In terms of this particular project, that stakeholders are going to be the people who are directly or indirectly at stake with the project or are associated with the projects outcome an its ongoing process.
This involves the employees who are going to be working in construction, the fund raisers, the government, the common people of Great Britain, the supply chain staff, the resource providers, and every person who are going to be associated with the development of the H2S railway project.
In relation to this particular theory, it must be noted that this particular project has been unethical on various grounds (Pendleton, 2020). Firstly, it must be noted that the railway tracks are going to be laid upon various green lands as well as agricultural fields that have come in. Between the cities that are intended to be connected through this particular channel.
For instance, there are many green lands that includes trees and forests that come in the West Midlands and the Midlands of Great Britain. While connecting this particular railway networks, areas between Sheffield and Birmingham,
Manchester and Leeds also has various green lands that are going to be used. In order to build this particular railway network (D’Silva, 2020). On ethical grounds, this particular project is not going to cater to the needs and the welfare of the natural ecosystem of the island of Great Britain by actually destroying the natural resources and depleting the overall greenery of the areas through which the railway tracks are going to be laid (Topham, 2020).
In this particular aspect, it can be stated that the project is unethical as it does not adequately and positively cater to the nature of the society as well as to the overall environment of the place.
Several critics have also stated that there was no actual need of introducing the HS2 railway network and spend billions of pounds behind this particular construction project.
Scholars and critics have also noted that the money could have been spent elsewhere and that the existing railway network could have been developed further by investing that amount of money at various intervals that would have helped in making the entire railway network of Britain extremely luxurious, fast, and much developed than what it is today (politics.co.uk, 2019).
Money requires to be spent wisely and the need to spend the money in building this particular high speed railway network was not mandatory considering the demands as well as the overall railway network that is existing in Britain. More importantly, in terms of sustainability and ethical issues, it must be noted that the construction project is also going to disturb the locals as well as the natural wildlife by noise pollution and by depleting the natural resources that come.
In the way of the tracks. In a time where safeguarding the natural ecosystem of the planet has been one of the most important priorities of most of the organisations that are performing sustainable business practices (Podkolinski, 2019). The implementation of this particular project has been one of the most. Discussed and critiqued ethical issues in the recent times.
In the light of project management, it must be noted that each project needs to be highly ethical and effectively catered to the stakeholders as per the stakeholder theory in order to be highly successful for this particular project, various areas and factors are considered to be weak and neglected.
Observing the implications of the project and the ongoing debates on the ethics, as well as the sustainability it can be stated that the project is not going to be extremely beneficial for the natural environment (Phillips, 2017). On the other hand, the various critics that believe in utilitarianism, code of ethical.
Practices do suggest that the overall advantage of building this particular railway network is a lot more than the minimum out the less amount of disadvantages that the project has. It has been argued that the advantage and the monetary gains that are going to be enjoyed by the stakeholders of this particular project is going to be a lot more compared to the less amount of use of natural resources that will be used and limited number of families and wildlife areas that will be affected during the construction (May and Tyler, 2016).
However, the chances of depletion of the natural resources and environmental piece still exists and that results in the great ethical issues relating to the project.
Based on Utilitarianism code of ethical beliefs and principles this particular project can be stated as extremely sustainable in terms of gaining monetary profits by the stakeholders (Calder, 2020).
Building this particular railway network is not only going to profit the locals of this particular generation, but will also help the upcoming generation of Britain to enjoy faster networks of travels and communication.
However, the increasing amount of money that is going to be used as also an issue of over budget is not highly sustainable in the light of effective project management practices. In order to make this particular project sustainable on a long term basis, Cost effective methods and resources are needed to be used and implemented in the most eco friendly manner in order to reach the objectives of the project.
Final words on the proceedings of the project with some recommendations
Based on the overall understanding and the research data that are collected through secondary sources of information it can be stated that the project can be completed by using natural and eco friendly resources that are going to be extremely sustainable in nature and provide the project with positiveresponse and feedback from different critics and scholars (Pendleton, 2020).
The project can certainly be carriedfurther by estimating the budget carefully and get rid of the over budget issue. That is one of the predominant problems that has resulted in the delay of five years.
More importantly, it is recommended to fix the particular schedule of the project in order to make the construction be completed within time
It is also recommended to opt for proper sources of budget and funds prior to starting the project. In addition it can be recommended to conduct a critical research on identifying the best eco friendly resources that can be used to complete the project in a sustainable manner.
The locals who are potential in being affected by the project must be provided with sufficient funds and insurances in case they experience negative outcomes or face any accidents (Calder, 2020).
Environmental experts are required to conduct strategic environmental research in understanding the ways through which the natural wildlife and the ecosystem can be preserved and secured during the construction work. In addition, ethical regulations are too be well observed by the contraction planners.
Legislative policies and regulations that secures ethics, human rights, rights of equality and health and safety that are proposed by the British parliament are needed to be strictly followed. Thus, by managing and maintaining these regulations and attaining effective sustainable strategies the project can be completed without further delays.
This particular paper has been highly enriching and much educational in developing a concrete and sound understanding on the project of the HS2 railway network in Britain. It has been observed through the recent researches and news that the railway construction project has been delayed for five and more years due to the issues of Over budgeting and irrelevantscheduling.
It has been observed by gathering secondary sources of information from various relevant sources that there were various ethical as well as sustainable issues present in the project. Careful analysis of the project has developed a sound understanding on the fact that the project challenges ethics in many ways and is not completely moral in its approach.
However, the overall advantages and the facilities that the project will cater to the people syngas much strong as supports on developing the railway network. The paper had been riveting in understanding the overall issues related to be delay that comprises of the poor scheduling and over budgeting for the project and started various recommendations that will help in making the project sustainable and be completed in future.
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Phillips, J., 2017. The “whys and wherefores” of citizen participation in the landscapes of HS2. Planning Theory & Practice, 18(2), pp.328-333.
Pilmmer, G., 2019. Why HS2 Rail Line Is Way Over Budget And Badly Delayed. [online] Ft.com. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/cf3ff750-d92a-11e9-8f9b-77216ebe1f17> [Accessed 27 April 2020].
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Topham, G., 2020. Where Did It All Go Wrong For HS2?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/24/hs2-high-speed-rail-europe-infrastructure-project> [Accessed 27 April 2020].
