Fight to keep city on route for HS2 line

Northern plans would cost £ 4bn more

NORTHERN LEADERS face a battle to persuade the Government to back plans for a vital high- speed rail station in Bradford amid pressure to cut costs by choosing a less ambitious route that is billions of pounds cheaper.

Boris Johnson, who last year promised a high- speed Northern Powerhouse Rail link between Leeds and Manchester and said the benefits would be ‘ colossal’, is being urged to ensure the new line stops in Bradford city centre.

But his Government faces the choice between a £ 17bn route servingBradford, whichisbacked by civic and business leaders, and an alternative costing £ 4bn less which misses out the city entirely.

And he has been warned that “delay and dither” on the proposals at a time when the future of the eastern leg of HS2 through Yorkshire is also reportedly under threat would show a lack of commitment to his own ‘ levellingup’ agenda.

Tim Wood, the director of the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme at Transport for the North, said the strategic body considered a new line serving

Bradford to be “incredibly important” because it offered “capacity, connectivity, and then speed”.

TfN has outlined its preferred route for the high- speed rail project linking the big cities of the North ahead of the publication next month of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan, which sets out how it will link with HS2 and other major schemes.

This includes the Bradford ‘ gateway’ option which would cut the time to travel between Leeds and Manchester from the current minimum of 50 minutes to 26 minutes and 30 seconds and provide a huge boost to the economy of a city which has long been let down by its poor transport links.

The proposal costing around £ 17.2bn would require a new station in the centre of Bradford. TfN estimates it would create 30,500 jobs. But another option set to be presented by the Department for Transport is a cheaper option which largely follows the existing trans- Pennine route through Huddersfield and does not serve Bradford at all. Though this route would cost between £ 13bn and £ 13.5bn, northern leaders do not support it. It is estimated that it will create just 21,000 jobs and be three minutes slower.

Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said northern leaders backing the city centre station was “the first stage of the battle, the next stage is to make sure that government commit”. She said: “They need to invest meaningfully in the North and Northern Powerhouse Rail. Going through Bradford city centre would be a strong signal that they are serious about that endeavour.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said: “We welcome TfN’s proposals for this project and we will continue to work closely with them as the business case is developed.”