HS2 trains to hit top speed on just half the line
Entire reason for rail line undermined, say critics as Johnson prepares to give £100bn project go-ahead
HIGH SPEED 2 trains will be able to travel at their top speed of 225 miles per hour on barely more than half of the 134-mile route between London and the West Midlands.
The disclosure was made just days before Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, is expected to give the green light to the £100billion project this week.
Mr Johnson is to make the announcement as part of “a major infrastructure package to level up connectivity around the country, particularly in the North”, No10 sources said.
Two weeks ago, Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, became the most senior minister to come down decisively on the side of the high-speed track, telling the Prime Minister that the scheme should proceed.
Yet assessments published by the Department for Transport show that trains will only operate at their full speed on 68 miles of the 134-mile route between London and Birmingham.
The study, Review of HS2 London to West Midlands Route Selection and Speed, found that only the 68-mile section of rail between Amersham and the proposed interchange station at the National Exhibition Centre in
Birmingham had the “maximum design speed”.
Lord Berkeley, a former deputy chairman of Mr Johnson’s review into the scheme, said that speeds elsewhere were not as high because the tunnels were not being built big enough for the trains to travel at top speed.
Dame Cheryl Gillan, a former Tory Cabinet minister and a keen opponent of HS2, said: “One of the justifications was speed and what is now painfully obvious, to keep the costs down both in what they construct and in what they are doing, the speed is going to have to come right down.
“The very raison d’être behind the original justification for the project has gone.”
Lord Darling of Roulanish, the former chancellor, urged the Government to take out some of the “over-specification” on the line.
The scheme was supposed to cost £56billion last autumn and is now forecast to cost more than £100billion “simply to get to Birmingham at some unspecified time in the next decade”, he said.
Lord Darling, who sits on the House of Lords economic affairs committee, said: “It is grossly over-specified. This railway is not going to get to Birmingham until the end of this decade, nobody knows when it is going to get to the English Midlands and the north of England.
“It is not planned to go near Scotland this century. This is not some great plan that is going to transform Britain.”
The peer urged Mr Johnson to focus government money on improving links
‘One of the justifications was speed and what is now painfully obvious is that the speed is going to have to come right down’
east to west across northern England and the Midlands.
He added: “The links between Leeds and Manchester, Manchester and Liverpool – north of Birmingham, this is where we ought to be spending our money now.”
Andy Street, the Tory mayoral candidate in the West Midlands, last night denied claims that he had threatened to resign if the scheme did not go ahead.
Mr Johnson, who met MPs affected by the line last week, is expected to look to fudge the decision by committing to building it only to Crewe and reviewing plans for further north.
No10 sources confirmed that the decision is due to be announced “in days”.
It could be announced on Thursday under the cover of the expected Cabinet
reshuffle. The expected HS2 decision will come alongside other infrastructure announcements including plans for 5G mobile phone technology in rural areas, more spending on buses and freeports and a £20million scheme to improve West Midlands Trains.
A No10 source said: “The PM understands the responsibility he has to deliver for everyone who put their trust in the Conservatives in the election. That means transforming the transport and infrastructure links in local areas, particularly in the North.
“For some this will mean big, ambitious projects, but he has been struck also by the small changes that will make an even bigger difference to the everyday lives of people across the country, be they roads, rail or other projects.”