Ministers finally unveil long-awaited plans for regional rail upgrades
HS2鈥檚 拢40bn eastern leg from the West Midlands to Leeds will be scrapped and replaced by upgrades to existing lines, the government has confirmed.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the 鈥渕uch improved鈥� new plan would bring better rail services to the North and the Midlands much sooner than the original vision for HS2, which he described as 鈥渙utdated鈥�.
He also admitted that the 拢39bn Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), a plan to build a new high speed line linking Manchester and Leeds via Bradford, would no longer go ahead.
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Instead, a 拢23bn high speed line will be built between Warrington, Manchester and the western border of Yorkshire without including Bradford, which is one of the UK鈥檚 worst connected cities.
The details have been unveiled in the long-awaited Integrated Rail Plan, the government鈥檚 plan for upgrading the rail network in the North and the Midlands.
Shapps said that 110 miles of new high speed line and 180 miles of newly electrified line will be provided by the plan as part of a 拢96bn package, although 拢40bn of that has already been committed as part of HS2鈥檚 route from London to Crewe.
He confirmed that HS2鈥檚 western leg from Crewe to Manchester would be completed and announced a new plan for HS2 trains to continue from the West Midlands to the centres of Nottingham and Derby on existing lines.
Other schemes will include track improvements to the East Coast Main Line, a new mass transit system in Leeds, and upgrades to the Midland Main Line between London St Pancras, the East Midlands, and Sheffield.
Shapps told the Commons that the rejigged plans would provide faster journeys, increased capacity and more frequent services 鈥渦p to 10 years sooner than previously planned鈥�.
He criticised the original plan for HS2 for being 鈥渄esigned in isolation鈥� from the rest of the rail network, arguing that 鈥渃learly a rethink was needed鈥� to make sure upgrades were delivered as soon as possible.
But the transport secretary faced laughter from Labour benches as he claimed the changes would 鈥渟lash鈥� journey times in the North and was heckled again when he said that the government would carry out a study to see 鈥渉ow best to take HS2 trains to Leeds鈥�.
Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said he was 鈥渇rankly staggered鈥� by Shapps鈥� announcements, calling them a 鈥渂etrayal of trust, the betrayal of promises, the betrayal investment the north of England and the Midlands deserve鈥�.
He added: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no amount of gloss, no amount of spin that can be put on this.
鈥淗e promised HS2 to Leeds, he promised Northern Powerhouse Rail, he promised that the north would not be forgotten, but he hasn鈥檛 just forgotten us, he鈥檚 completely sold us out.
鈥淲e were promised a new line. He has broken that promise and he hasn鈥檛 even got the decency to admit it.鈥�
Boris Johnson gave a speech at Manchester鈥檚 Science and Industry Museum three days after taking office in 2019 in which he said: 鈥淚 want to be the prime minister who does with Northern Powerhouse Rail what we did for Crossrail in London.鈥�
In February the following year the prime minister also committed to connecting the West Midlands to Leeds with HS2.
McMahon said the government had repeated its commitment to build NPR 60 times since the line was announced by former chancellor George Osborne in 2014, calling the scaling back of the plan a 鈥渕assive blow for our regions鈥�.
More to follow鈥�
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