Govt to revive Manchester-Birmingham high-speed rail link
The government is set to announce the revival of long-term plans to build a high-speed service between Manchester and the West Midlands – but will hope to learn lessons from the overrunning HS2 project.
Fresh government proposals to revive a proposed high-speed rail link between Birmingham and the North West are expected to be launched on Wednesday, alongside the revival of the Northern Powerhouse Rail project.
A high-speed link between Manchester and Birmingham was originally proposed for inclusion in the HS2 scheme, before the northern leg of the project was scrapped by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government in 2023, in a bid to reduce costs.
The current HS2 programme is in the middle of a year-long reset in a bid to get the project back on course, with current final budget estimates expecting to at least double the railway’s initial £40bn build costs.
Little detail is expected to be announced by the government, other than a long-term intention to build the scheme, intended to support the NPR project for high-speed services between Liverpool, Manchester, and Yorkshire.
In a statement last month issued in response to comments from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who pleaded with the government to press ahead with NPR, a government spokesperson said it was “fully committed” to investing in northern rail upgrades and “getting spades in the ground”.
“We reaffirmed our commitment to the Northern Growth Corridor in the Budget, and we continue to engage with mayors to deliver NPR,” they said.
“This is a major investment, and we are committed to getting it right – taking time to plan carefully, learning from past mistakes to truly deliver for the North.”
One of the most efficient ways to save money I find is to stop and restart projects.
By Anonymous
She’ll be gone soon so this won’t happen.
By Anonymous
Last desperate act of a dying regime?
By Raimondo
@Raimondo you don’t appear to understand our electoral system.
By Sten
Despite the cynicism, this is actually a very sensible proposal. The state already mostly owns a corridor between Manchester and Birmingham, and also powers to build a railway as part of the failed HS2 proposals. These were project managed terribly by the previous Government and abandoned for reasons that included massive over-specification and constant design changes. It should be possible to build a much cheaper but still fast (125mph) railway that will use HS2 south of Birmingham. Andy Burnham’s team has been working on this for a while.
By Pete
If Reform get in power this and NPR will never happen.
By Anonymous
More lies, false promises and deceit from a failed bank customer services manager who knows this is a bottle mixed for the next government when she is out of office,
By Steve5839
Only makes sense if it joins Northern Powerhouse Rail and serves Liverpool and Warrington. Otherwise the government will say the BCR is too low and scrap it, again!
By Anon
What is needed is more commuter servicee into Manchester, opening closed stations and lines, such as the Fallowfield loop line. The existing service between Birmingham and Manchester can be improved without the nonsense of building a new vanity line. The same is true between Manchester and Liverpool
By Anonymous
I wonder does she even believes what she says anymore? I know it’s easy to be cynical so I will be, but Labour are cooked..they were out for 12,years..finished as a party and only voted back in as a protest vote because the Tories proved so incompetent. The NGO’s and civil servants will eventually decide if this will go ahead many years from now but I suppose they have to pretend to be useful . Not holding my breath.
By Anonymous
If now it takes 30 minutes longer to get from Manchester to London than it will then, get up earlier and take an earlier train. I must be too daft to understand these things.
By Anonymous