Reflecting on our recent appearance at the Transport Select Committee, in this episode of Green Signals we are delighted to be joined by Andrew McNaughton. Not only did Andrew give evidence with us at the TSC recently, he was HS2's Technical Director and one of its first two employees back in 2009.

There is no-one better to talk to in detail about why HS2 was designed the way it was (and, perhaps more importantly, why it wasn't designed differently)!

Andrew brilliantly describes reasons for HS2's alignment, speed and capacity. But the really important discussion is that we all agree just how vital it is to fight for Phase 2A to go ahead, for a whole host of reasons that you really do need to hear. Without it, we have all kinds of problems ahead.

We also explain in this episode what a White Paper is and what a select committee does.

Aside from HS2, Richard has a bit of a Victor Meldrew moment while giving his views on the King's Speech. To say he was underwhelmed by the announcement of a Draft Bill for GBR is a bit of an understatement...