HS2 betrayal is ‘Great Train Robbery’
There was cause for cautious optimism in the North in February 2020 when Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that HS2 would go ahead, after months of speculation and concerns about spiralling costs.
But on Thursday the government announced it was scaling back the project.
Leeds has been cut from the route,butthegovernmentsaid there will be a study to “look at the best way to take” HS2 trains to the West Yorkshire city.
The Government has also promised £17.2bn for a scaledback version of Northern Powerhouserail,withahigh-speed linebetweenwarrington,manchester and Marsden in Yorkshire, although Bradford has been cut from the route.
Instead of building a new line between Leeds and Liverpool aspartofthenprproject,ithas chosen to upgrade and electrify the existing Transpennine Main Line as part of a £5.4bn project.
According to the IRP, options for a new high-speed line were considered,butthiswouldhave cost an extra £18bn, shaved just four minutes off a trip from Manchester to Leeds and not been operational until 2043.
Under the current plans, the Government expects some NPR services to “start running this decade” and trains will run frommanchestertoleedsin33 minutes, 22 minutes faster.
Mrshappsannounced£96bn of funding overall for rail improvements overall – with £42.5bn for phases 1 and 2a of HS2 – and said it will “deliver punctual,frequentandreliable journeys for everyone, wherever they live”.
“Our plans go above and beyond the initial ambitions of
Hs2andnorthernpowerhouse Rail by delivering benefits for communities no matter their size, right across the North and Midlands, up to 10 to 15 years earlier,” he said.
However,politiciansandbusiness leaders in the North were furious, but not surprised, that the Government had refused to deliver what it had promised.
Shadow Transport Secretary Jim Mcmahon said: “Boris Johnsonwaselectedonapromise to level the playing fields – to make things better for households across the country.
“We were promised a Northern Powerhouse, we were promised a Midlands Engine and to be levelled up.
“What we have been given is a great train robbery – robbing the North of the chance to realise its full potential.”
Hilary Benn, the Labour MP for Leeds Central, added: “The Prime Minister repeatedly promised that HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail would be built in full. Today that promise has been broken and Leeds and the North have been betrayed.”
Robbie Moore, the Tory MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said he was “deeply disappointed” that Bradfordhadbeencutfromthe NPR route and it would not be getting a new station.
Hesaid:“economicprosperity relies on good transport links, and today the Bradford district has been completely shortchanged.
“Weareoneofthemostsociallydeprivedpartsoftheukandi amthereforecallingonthegovernment to review these plans urgently,sothatnorthernpowerhouse Rail can be delivered with a stop in Bradford, so we can unlock Keighley and the whole of the Bradford district’s potential.”