HS2: Boris Johnson set to give green light for multi-billion pound rail project
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham calls for PM to bring forward railway to link northern cities
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is expected to give the green light on Tuesday to the first section of the HS2 high-speed rail line despite concerns about spiralling cost and the opposition of as many as 60 Conservative MPs.
The prime minister will set out his response to the Oakervee Review of the multi-billion pound project in an announcement to parliament and is expected to give his final approval to the first stretch, linking London to Birmingham.
But it is thought he will stop short of giving a final OK to the project’s second phase, a Y-shaped extension to Manchester and Leeds, saying that more analysis needs to be done on the cost.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham today appealed for him to put the section north of Birmingham on ice and switch resources instead to an east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail line linking major cities in the north of England.
Mr Burnham told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “Basically, HS2 has been designed as a north-south railway and when you come to the east-west bit, the Northern Powerhouse area, it doesn’t work very well. If you ask people in the north which one would they prioritise, most people would say get east-west right.”
He called on the PM to consider a “compromise” option of giving the NPR link - also known as HS3 - priority over the second phase of HS2. The route would join Liverpool with Manchester and Leeds and link in with enhanced connections to cities like Sheffield, York and Hull.
“There is room for a compromise here and maybe it’s about taking the team who are working on HS2 north of Birmingham off that project and putting them on Northern Powerhouse Rail,” said Burnham.
“I think if the government are minded to go in that direction maybe finally we can all agree on that and the whole thing can move forward. If they build the east-west line, the Northern Powerhouse Rail, early in time they could then build HS2 from the north down to meet up with HS in Birmingham. That feels to me the right solution in our half of the country.”
Mr Burnham said his proposal could see NPR opening in the 2030s, as much as a decade ahead of the planned arrival of HS2 in Manchester.
The estimated costs of HS2 have more than doubled from £56 billion in 2015 to as high as £106 billion, according to leaks from the as-yet-unpublished Oakervee Review commissioned by Mr Johnson to assess the viability of the project.
Chancellor Sajid Javid is understood to have thrown his weight behind HS2 at a crunch meeting with the PM and transport secretary Grant Shapps at the end of January.
The PM’s clearance for the first part of HS2 will form part of a major package of infrastructure investment projects to improve connectivity, particularly in the north of England.
Announcements will also cover freeports, bus routes, road improvements and investment in broadband, with small-scale local schemes sitting alongside more ambitious national projects, as Mr Johnson attempts to shift the political agenda away from Brexit and onto his aim to “level up” different areas of the UK.
A No 10 source said: ‘The PM understands the responsibility he has to deliver for everyone who put their trust in the Conservatives in the election. That means transforming the transport and infrastructure links in local areas, particularly in the north. For some this will mean big, ambitious projects - but he has been struck also, by the small changes that will make an even bigger difference to the everyday lives of people across the country – be they roads, rail or other projects.”
Mr Shapps announced on Sunday that West Midlands Trains is being required to spend an extra £20 million on improving services for passengers after breaching performance targets.
The transport secretary, who is set to hold onto his post in Thursday’s cabinet reshuffle after impressing No 10 with his grip on the transport brief said: “West Midlands Trains have failed to fulfil their obligations – to their franchise agreement and, most importantly, to their passengers.
“The action we’re taking means they must invest in rapidly improving services, so that passengers have reliable, punctual trains they can rely on.”
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