City mayors put forward alternative to axed HS2 northern leg

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The axed northern leg of HS2 should be replaced by a cheaper version along the same route, according to the provisional findings of a privately backed review by two of England’s city mayors. 

Experts enlisted by the leaders of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester concluded that a new line was still needed to fill in the “missing” transport link between the two biggest city regions outside the capital. 

The existing M6 motorway and west coast rail connections would not otherwise be able to cope with demand, they said.

Britain’s proposed high-speed rail line was drastically cut back in October when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak axed its northern leg, arguing that the £36bn cost would be better spent on local transport projects.

The decision prompted an outcry among northern leaders, while parliament’s public accounts committee later concluded that the remaining London-to-Birmingham portion of HS2 now offered “very poor value for money” without its northern phase.

In response to the decision, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street and Labour’s mayor in Greater Manchester Andy Burnham commissioned their own review into prospective alternatives that could be part-funded by the private sector. 

That review, chaired by former HS2 non-executive chair Sir David Higgins, has provisionally concluded that the best alternative would be a high-speed line along roughly the same route.

Doing nothing was not an option, it found, because of the congestion facing the M6 and the parallel rail route into the 2030s.

Instead a new rail link should run for 70 miles from Handsacre, north of Birmingham, to High Legh, near Manchester airport, along approximately the same path as the original HS2 proposal but under cheaper specifications.

“Although only provisional findings, it is clear that a new line between Handsacre and Manchester airport is the best option for improving connectivity, and the most attractive option for significant private sector involvement,” said Street of the review, which was carried out by firms including Arup, Arcadis, Mace and EY.

The costs of the alternative line could be covered “through a combination of government funding and private finance, with repayment through access or user charges on the new line”, according to a statement by the mayors. 

The review is now analysing potential public-private financing models, such as those used to fund France’s high-speed TGV line between Paris and Bordeaux.

The review is expected to report in full later this year.