HS2 trains will be slower and take fewer passengers

HS2 trains running between Birmingham and Manchester will be slower and hold fewer passengers than current ones MPS have been told.

Proposals for Britain’s multi-billionpound high-speed railway were cut back by Rishi Sunak in October because of rising costs. A railway will still be constructed between London and Birmingham, but trains will then switch to the existing West Coast main line to Manchester and beyond.

Yesterday, Sir Jon Thompson, the executive chairman of HS2, told MPS that, as a result of the revised plans, there will be “a reduction in seats from London to Manchester” compared with current services. He also admitted that the predicted cost of delivering the project between London and Birmingham had soared to more than £66billion.

The planned extension to Crewe and the new station at Manchester Piccadilly for the northern leg has been scrapped, which means HS2 trains heading north beyond Birmingham will have to be shorter than planned.

Sir Jon told MPS: “We have assumed that we wouldn’t run a 400-metre train to Manchester Piccadilly – we would have to configure the train at 250 metres long, which is roughly the same length as a Pendolino. It would have less seats than a Pendolino does now.”

However it is understood that the trains would be shorter than the current Pendolinos, at 650ft (200m), making them half the size original planned.

He also said that the speed of HS2 trains from Birmingham to Manchester would be slower around bends.

He said: “The HS2 train will go the same as a Pendolino on straight, 125mph, and round the bends it’ll go slower at 115mph. So an HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester ... would go slower than the Pendelino, yes.”