Our rail hub may get green light as North hits buffers
BORIS Johnson’s Government is to announce long-awaited decisions about a series of rail projects before next week’s Autumn Budget, which takes place on
October 27.
Downing Street won’t say when exactly the announcement is due. However, leaders in the Midlands are gearing up to expect something very close to the Budget, possibly on October 26.
The document we’re all waiting for is called the Intergrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands. It’s expected to tell us what Ministers have decided to do about projects including the HS2 high speed rail line, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Transpennine rail upgrades and the Midlands Rail Hub
Whatever Mr Johnson and his colleagues have decided, the outcome is likely to be controversial.
Many political and business leaders across the Midlands and the North want the HS2 high speed rail line to be built in full.
However, there are also MPs in both the East and West Midlands who would be more than happy to see the project downgraded – which seems likely to happen.
Without going into too much detail, here’s a quick guide to what we can expect...
HS2 is the high speed rail line running between London, Birmingham, Crewe, Manchester, the East Midlands and Yorkshire.
There has been widespread speculation that the eastern section – that’s the but running to the East Midlands and Yorkshire – will be postponed or delayed.
HS2 Ltd, the Government-owned firm building the line, has revealed that it’s stopped work on the eastern leg.
Andy Street, the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands who has good connections with Downing Street, seems to have accepted that a delay is inevitable.
However, he is pushing the Government to make a firm promise that the line will eventually be built in full – in other words, to guarantee that the eastern leg really is being delayed, not cancelled.
At the same time, Ian Ward, Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, is opposing any delay.
On the other hand, some politicians would be pleased to see HS2 downgraded or halted. They include Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen,
who argues the costs of HS2 are out of control.
The Midlands Rail Hub is a proposal to improve existing rail lines, to deliver faster, more frequent or new rail links for 26 towns and cities including Birmingham, Coventry, Worcester, Hereford, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Nuneaton, Tamworth and Loughborough.
It will cost around £2 billion and is championed by Midlands Connect, a Midlands-wide transport body which is led by council leaders and senior transport officials, such as the heads of Highways England and Network Rail.
This project is also supported by Mayor Andy Street, but he – along with Midlands Connect officials – want the Government to build it in addition to the eastern leg of HS2.
Their concern is that it will instead be presented as an alternative to building HS2 in full, or as a consolation prize for the region.
Northern Powerhouse Rail, sometimes known as HS3, is a plan put together by Transport for the North, a transport body led by mayors and council leaders and set up by the Government, for new high
speed lines between Leeds and Manchester, and between Manchester and Liverpool.
It also involves improving the existing East Coast Main Line between Leeds and Newcastle, to effectively make the North East part of the network.
Transport for the North argues that this project would connect to HS2, creating a new nationwide high speed service.
But there are reports this could be scrapped or downgraded, with the Government concentrating instead on improving existing transpennine services.
Transpennine rail upgrades include improvements to the existing line running between York and Manchester, via Leeds and Huddersfield. This is sometimes regarded as part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, but Northern leaders insist that the new high speed line is needed too.
As noted already, Andy Street has been very vocal. And Birmingham Council leader Ian Ward met with Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, to call for HS2 to be built in full.
That was a symbol of the North and Midlands working in partnership to pressure Ministers. The Northern Powerhouse Partnership is a think-tank set up by none other than George Osborne, the former Conservative Chancellor.
In addition, business leaders from across “Greater Birmingham” have written to the Prime Minister calling
on the Government to go ahead with the Midlands Rail Hub.
The letter, co-ordinated by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, has been signed by over 80 businesses including professional services firms Mills & Reeve, Browne Jacobson and Geldards LLP, engineering consultancies Aecom, Kier and Matt Macdonald, and the NEC group.
Signatories state that an investment in the Midlands Rail Hub “is not only an investment in businesses, industry and our future success, but will also catalyse additional private sector investment.”
Adding “Given the pressures of the last 18 months, it’s essential we get started now.”
The Integrated Rail Plan was originally due to be published in 2020, but it’s been subject to numerous delays. Next week we should get an announcement that won’t please everyone, but at least we should have some answers.
Whatever the Government announces is likely to spark a fresh round of campaigning, as politicians and businesses demand that any delay in the eastern leg is strictly temporary.
But early indications are that the Midlands will get most or all of what it is asking for, as far as the Midlands Rail Hub is concerned.
Leaders in the North are gearing up for a real fight, because they fear their Northern Powerhouse Rail project is set to be severely downgraded.
Northern leaders insist that the new high speed line is needed too