The latest episode of the Engineers Collective is out now: listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, your usual platform or via the player below.

This month’s guest is Ben Brittain, director of public affairs at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE).

He told NCE news editor Lee Kenny about his role and how, when he was transportation adviser to Andy Street, the former Mayor of the West Midlands, he spent many years making the case for HS2 and advising on the Midlands Rail Hub and capital programme spending across the West Midlands.

He shared his personal experience of congestion on the West Coast Main Line, which creates timetabling issues between Birmingham and Manchester.

The poor connectivity between the two cities is symptomatic of the “chronic lack of investment” in Britain’s railway.

He also expressed concern that sequencing the Birmingham–Manchester rail line behind both HS2 Phase 1 and Northern Powerhouse Rail could delay the route into the 2040s.

If that happens, he is concerned it may not happen at all and describes it as a “slow-motion cancellation”.

He compared the domestic rail network with services in Europe, particularly the lack of high-speed trains in the UK.

“If you do travel in Europe as well, you can see how a high-speed rail network is the norm,” he said.

“There are options for high-speed rail and regional or intercity connectivity on conventional rail as well, whereas Britain is hobbled by its Victorian rail infrastructure.”

He said HS2 has been an “embarrassment” and a “blemish” on the UK’s international reputation.

He has concerns that the increasing cost of HS2 may deter governments from embarking on other large-scale infrastructure projects in the future, but that should not be the case.

“I think as a result of HS2 and its problems, we’ve begun to talk ourselves down as a country on our capability of delivering infrastructure,” he said.

“And I don’t buy that story. We deliver world-class infrastructure in this country, and we at times deliver it well.”