‘Cheaper’ option if HS2’s eastern leg is scrapped
TRANSPORT ACADEMIC SUGGESTS EXISTING AND CLOSED LINES COULD PROVIDE MORE CAPACITY
A TRANSPORT academic says cheaper alternatives to HS2 could be used if the Government decides to pull the plug on the Eastern leg of the multi-billion-pound high-speed rail scheme.
Fears have been growing that the Government wants to scrap the stretch of the line linking Birmingham with Leeds, going through the East Midlands, being built in the foreseeable future.
The Department for Transport insists that no decisions on phase 2b of the scheme have been made, and all will be made clear in its longawaited Integrated Rail Plan, which is yet to be published.
Business and local authority leaders have called for Ministers to end the uncertainty and finally publish the report.
But Dr Anthony Whiteing, a transport expert at the University of Leeds, has suggested that if the scheme were scrapped, a lower cost option could involve utilising parts of the UK’s existing underused railways in the Midlands and North of England.
He said: “The Government’s pretty much committed to Birmingham’s stretch already – all the parliamentary stuff has been passed for the Crewe to Manchester side, but they don’t have permission for the eastern leg at all, so it is less of a positive picture.
“Many have argued that the economic case does not stack up anyway, so I am a bit agnostic about HS2 and Leeds, but what I would say is that I personally suspect they might scrap the proposals for an expensive new alignment from East Midlands all the way up to Leeds and go for enhancements of existing rail track beds.
“You could get pretty much most of the way between East Midlands Parkway up to Leeds using railways that are already there and aren’t used fully, or reopening old lines that are pretty much still there.
“If you did that it would be massively cheaper than building a new rail line, but it would be significantly slower. Government people argue HS2 is more about capacity, so this could be much more viable proposal than to plough a new line across countryside. I suspect this could be being looked at.”
The comments follow a story which emerged in the Derby Telegraph’s sister publication, The Mirror, which claimed a Whitehall source told them the Government was looking to scrap the eastern leg of HS2. It reported the source as saying the Government had effectively
run out of money for the scheme, and that there was “no way we’re going to see this built in our lifetimes”.
Responding to this, James Lewis, joint chair of the HS2 East group, said: “The eastern leg of HS2 represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to support the creation of over 160,000 new jobs, boost GVA by £300 billion, and lead to the development of as many as 38,000 new homes. The value of these benefits will pay for the costs of the new railway many times over.
“We continue to urge the government to publish its Integrated Rail Plan, setting out a clear plan to build the Eastern Leg of HS2 in full – between Birmingham, East Midlands Hub at Toton, Chesterfield/ Staveley, Sheffield, Leeds, and the North East.”
Dr Whiteing said that, while he was unconvinced about the ability of HS2 to “level up” the North against the South, he believed a lot of the anxieties felt by Yorkshire leaders were more focused on the idea that their districts could be left behind by Manchester.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The Integrated Rail Plan will soon outline exactly how major rail projects, including HS2 phase 2b [West Midlands to Leeds] and other transformational projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail, will work together to deliver the reliable train services that passengers across the North and Midlands need and deserve.”
The DfT added that it would will consider “how to sequence the delivery of Phase 2b to ensure benefits are realised to a quicker timescale and to ensure it is integrated with plans for NPR and other rail investment projects”, and that “no decisions have been made in terms of the delivery of Phase 2b”.