The Department for Transport (DfT) has stated the delivery of proposals to connect Birmingham and Manchester with a railway line won\u2019t be developed until both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) are finished.<\/p>\n
A Parliamentary written question from shadow secretary of state for transport Richard Holden asked when the DfT expects to \u201ccomplete the work required to develop plans for a North-South new line between Birmingham and Manchester\u201d.<\/p>\n
Responding to this, transport undersecretary Simon Lightwood said: \u201cThe Northern Growth Strategy set out the government\u2019s intention to ultimately deliver a full North-South new line between Birmingham and Manchester.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect the delivery timelines for this line to follow the completion of HS2 and NPR.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year,\u00a0Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeve unveiled a major government plan to boost economic growth in the North of England with the long\u2011promised Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) at the centre.<\/a><\/p>\n A new Birmingham\u2013Manchester rail line was signalled as an ambition that could support northern rail links as part of this plan, though the government said at the time this would not amount to a reinstatement of the cancelled HS2 Phase 2 project, which was due to link Birmingham, Manchester, Crewe, Leeds and the East Midlands.<\/p>\n HS2 Phase 2\u00a0was cancelled in October 2023,<\/a> when former prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the construction of the line would not continue beyond Birmingham.<\/p>\n The decision followed earlier scaling back of the project in November 2021, when the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) scrapped the HS2 Phase 2b eastern leg and reduced the scope of NPR.<\/p>\n NPR is billed by ministers as a transformational upgrade to east\u2013west connectivity across the North, linking Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York, and improving onward services to Newcastle and Hull.<\/p>\n The government says the project will be delivered in phases, starting with improved links between Sheffield and Leeds, Leeds and York and Leeds and Bradford, and taking forward development of the Leamside Line in the North East.<\/p>\n Later phases would include a new Liverpool to Manchester route, via Manchester Airport, and Warrington and upgraded routes across the Pennines.<\/p>\n Lightwood\u2019s comments have now made it clear that all of this work, including HS2 Phase 1 (which is currently undergoing a reset and does not have a specified timeline of completion), will have to be delivered before plans for the North-South Line are developed.<\/p>\n The link is considered imperative to overcoming capacity issues, which railway lines north of Birmingham suffer from.<\/p>\n In 2024, the National Infrastructure Commission (now part of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority) warned that not upgrading rail infrastructure north of Birmingham, in the area that the cancelled HS2 Phase 2 was due to serve, is not a sustainable option.<\/p>\n Its report 4 painted a stark picture of what the government\u2019s decision to cancel HS2 Phase 2 could do to transport infrastructure in the north.<\/p>\n The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also recently stated\u00a0the cancellation of the northern leg raises urgent, unanswered questions and has rendered Phase 1 of HS2 \u201cvery poor value for money\u201d for taxpayers.<\/a><\/p>\n While the National Audit Office (NAO) stated the cancellation of HS2 north of Birmingham has seen billions of pounds and most benefits squandered.<\/a><\/p>\n