Signal failure: Who killed HS2?
The Slow Newscast
Alice Sandelson
4.6 • 894 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
HS2 should have been a symbol of engineering excellence. Instead half of it has been scrapped and it's still running £50 billion over budget. This is the story of how Britain’s largest infrastructure project became its biggest scandal.
Reporter: Stephen Armstrong
Producer: Jonathan Lewis
Artwork: Lola Williams
Sound design: Dominic Delargy
Editor: Jasper Corbett
This episode is sponsored by The Life of Chuck. Join us across the UK for a preview screening on Wednesday 13 August, before it hits cinemas nationwide on 20 August. Find the locations and book now at SEEITFIRST.COM and enter the code CHUCK.
To find out more about The Observer:
Subscribe to TheObserver+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content head to our website observer.co.uk
Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalists
If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact hello@tortoisemedia.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Adam Grant from Worklife, a podcast from TED. |
| 0:05.3 | This episode is brought to you by FreshWorks. |
| 0:08.0 | FreshWorks believes the complexity is the enemy of efficiency. |
| 0:11.2 | So stop wrestling with bloated expensive service software that takes forever to implement an update, |
| 0:16.4 | where ROI is someday, not today. |
| 0:19.1 | You've been overcharged and underserved for way too long. |
| 0:22.7 | Uncomplicate with fresh service for IT and fresh desk for customer support. |
| 0:27.9 | And with FreshWorks AI-assisted service software, you'll work smarter, not harder. |
| 0:33.1 | FreshWorks uncomplicates. |
| 0:35.2 | Learn more at freshworks.com. The Observer. |
| 0:52.3 | I live in the Surbiton, and it is a town that did not exist before the railway. |
| 0:59.9 | I'm in Staffordshire, telling one of the saddest stories of broken dreams I have ever heard about the railways. |
| 1:06.2 | Wanted to build the Waterloo line to the coast through Kingston. |
| 1:10.2 | So they went to Kingston and said, |
| 1:11.6 | can we build the railway station here? And Kingston said, no, under no circumstances. Of course not. |
| 1:16.6 | It's just mucky and quite low... |
| 1:18.6 | Thomas Pooley came up from Cornwall to make his fortune. He was a working man. |
| 1:22.6 | When the London and Southampton Railway wanted to build its line near Kingston upon Thames, |
| 1:26.6 | the local council |
| 1:27.8 | thought it too mucky and working class. But Thomas saw an opportunity. |
| 1:32.8 | He brought up a load of land in a field of a farmer. He built a really rubbish station |
| 1:39.6 | and said, you can use this, wrong. And they did. He created so much wealth that Kingston was jealous. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Alice Sandelson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Alice Sandelson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.