Mayors put forward alternatives to HS2 scrapped northern section

Andy Burnham, the Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Andy Street, the Tory Mayor of the West Midlands, have joined forces in proposing their outline alternative plans for the scrapped northern section of HS2, warning that “to do nothing is not an option”.

In a joint address, the mayors put forward three options after the government cancelled the northern section of the high-speed rail line in October.

The mayors said their largely privately funded alternatives would cost “considerably less” than HS2, although precise costs are not yet available.

The mayors have created a consortium chaired by Sir David Higgins, a former chair of HS2 and former chief executive of Network Rail and the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority, which involves private engineering and finance companies including Arup, EY, Skanska and Mace.

At the time, Mayor Street described the cancellation of the northern HS2 line as a tragedy. And with the West Coast Mainline and the M6 motorway at capacity, alternatives had to be explored, the mayors said.

Mayor Burnham said that to do nothing on rail capacity between the West Midlands and Greater Manchester was not an option because it would damage economic growth. “The country won’t be able to move in a timely way if we just do nothing,” he said. It would leave the UK with “a serious transport headache for the rest of this century”.

The mayors outlined an option to build a segregated line such as the one planned for HS2 but with lower maximum speeds, reducing costs. Mayor Street said “The key difference is obviously the question of speed. A lot of the cost in HS2 has come from this very uncompromising point about the speed.”

Mayor Burnham said the northern leg of HS2 was always “one of the less complicated parts of the network” because there was no tunnelling needed. The new line would be mostly for passengers, meaning freight could go on the existing west coast mainline.

Mayor Street added that unlike HS2, they are considering the possibility of trains stopping between Crewe and Manchester.

The mayors outlined two other options. One is to enhance parts of the existing West Coast Mainline, which Mayor Street said would have “relatively little advantage”. The third is to add bypasses to the busiest sections of the west Coast Mainline.

Mayor Burnham stressed they were not proposing HS2 “by the back door” and reported they have recently had “constructive, positive” talks with transport secretary, Mark Harper, who “indicated an open mind”.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham is speaking at Interchange later this month. The two day event at Manchester Central on 27/28 February includes a number of co-located events that collectively brings together at scale amazing speakers and attendees from major public and private sector stakeholders across the transport, energy, property and technology sectors all focused on delivering a joined-up, resilient, sustainable and fit for the future transport system. You’ll find full details including how to book your free place at Interchange-uk.com