HS2 will go to Central London says Hunt

After a morning of silence, the chancellor refuted rumours that the high-speed rail network would terminate at Old Oak Common, five miles away from the city centre.

Regarding HS2, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told reporters: “I don’t see any conceivable circumstance in which that would not end up at Euston”.

His reaffirmation of commitment to High Speed 2 comes after a stressful morning for transport advocates in the North.

The Sun reported last night that inflation and growing costs had led the government to flirt with either ditching a Euston terminus for High Speed 2 or pushing it back to 2038.

If HS2 had ended at Old Oak Common in Ealing, those wishing to go into Central London would have had to catch the Tube or the Elizabeth Line to continue their journey.

Hunt’s words imply that The Sun’s report was just rumour.

When HS2 was announced, it was meant to provide a new high-speed rail line linking Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, and London. Since then, the Leeds leg has been scrapped and plans for an overground station in Manchester have been met with criticism.

The goal of HS2 is to increase capacity on the rail network as well as to reduce journey times for those traveling between the cities. Freeing up capacity would allow for more freight travel on the rails, helping move HGVs off the motorways.

That initial rumour that the Central London connection would be scrapped was met with frustration, with a spokesperson from transport advocacy organisation High Speed Rail Group calling it the “height of folly”.

They also emphasised the impracticality of the project.

“Old Oak Common station has nowhere near enough platforms to serve as the London terminus,” they said. “Indeed, if it was, there would only be enough capacity to allow London-Birmingham shuttle services on HS2.

“In very simple terms, if Old Oak Common is the terminus, you cannot have HS2 services reaching Manchester. If you cut off Euston, you also cut off Manchester and the rest of the North.”

Henri Murison, chief executive of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership, had maintained disbelief that any cancellation of a Euston terminus had come from Hunt.

“I struggle to believe that Jeremy Hunt, a longstanding advocate for HS2, would ever support such a nonsensical plan,” Murison said at the time.

“The problem with whittling down major infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail is that the new, cheaper versions do not deliver the productivity transformation we were promised and, ironically, are less good value for money.

“It’s a false economy, and there are more sensible ways to address the issue of inflation in costs – which is occurring across all major construction projects.”

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram also weighed in this morning, tweeting: “If a project that is meant to improve connectivity between the North and Central London doesn’t go to either of those places then it doesn’t make a lot of sense at any price”.

Anna Wrigglesworth, director of UK North at political consultancy C|T Group, was also sceptical of the rumour, describing how a full HS2 delivery had been a priority for the government.

“In his autumn statement, Jeremy Hunt reaffirmed his commitment to it,” she said. “The North’s political leadership and business community are firmly behind it. My reading of it is, there are a few of the usual out-of-touch suspects playing games to derail this major infrastructure project.

“Let us not be distracted and remind ourselves that only with HS2 can we increase capacity and address the real-life challenges we face. Yes, HS2 will be economically transformative, taking our freight off the roads, but it will also mean better connectivity and pride for us,” she said.