Rail minister Lord Hendy admitted that a new line between the West Midlands and Crewe might be needed sooner than Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) due to capacity issues on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
Phase 2a of HS2 was intended to build a new high-speed railway between Birmingham and Crewe that would have alleviated considerable capacity constraints on the WCML – the busiest line on the UK rail network. However, this was cancelled along with the rest of Phase 2 by the previous government.
It means that when HS2 services do commence in the 2030s, if they are to continue up to Scotland as expected, they will have to join the WCML before Shugborough Tunnel; a known bottleneck where the tracks reduce from four to two that is already at capacity. A new line to Crewe would enable trains to join the WCML north of this bottleneck.
Along with the announcement of upgraded railways across the north of England as part of NPR, the government said it was still committed to a new West Midlands to Manchester railway in place of the cancelled HS2 – but that this would come after the completion of NPR, which could be in the 2040s.
During a discussion of NPR in the Lords on 19 January, Hendy admitted he couldn’t put a timetable on the plans because “railway improvements, sadly, take a very long time”.
He also lamented “the most difficult occasion in the recent history of railway planning […] the peremptory cancellation of Phase 2a of HS2, which was done, sadly, without any contemplation of a replacement”.
Pressed on the need for a new railway between the West Midlands and Crewe, the rail minister said the government has committed to maintaining the land it has already purchased on the route because “[it knows] that at some stage a railway will have to be built”.
“It will probably not be a high-speed railway,” he continued. “It is certainly not a railway to the specification of High Speed 2 Phase 1, which has cost an extraordinary amount of money because of its specification.
“It might be that only part of that route [West Midlands to Manchester] is needed sooner than the more northern parts.
“It is clear that the West Coast Main Line is full of trains. There is no space left […] It is right for the government to think about the future and to plan to deliver this railway at a time when it is needed.”
The suggestion that a hypothetical new line between Birmingham and Manchester would not be high speed will be a disappointment to the West Midlands and Greater Manchester mayors, whose HS2 replacement plan had proposed 300kmh services (down from HS2’s 360kmh).
Later in the debate, Hendy was asked if he thought it is time that the engineering feats of HS2 be celebrated.
The rail minister agreed, but said: “There are some remarkable structures, either in the ground or coming out of the ground, for HS2, but […] you have to be tinged with sadness to stand here and not know how much they have cost so far. That is a shocking weakness, which we will come back to and no doubt debate at some stage.”
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Source: www.newcivilengineer.com
