Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has urged the government to reuse land earmarked for HS2 to build a new train line between Manchester and Birmingham. He said plans for the new 80km line are aimed at putting an end to “treating people in the North like second class citizens” when it comes to transport. Mr Burnham shared the plans today in a report with West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker and former HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins, calling for an end to delays on the West Coast Mainline and M6 motorway which have reached capacity and become “major barriers” to growth.
The proposals for a Midlands-North West rail link can be built for cheaper than the scrapped HS2 leg and shave 30 minutes off existing journey times to London, the report found. The proposed new line would build new tracks from the end of HS2 at Lichfield to High Legh in Cheshire, which would carry on to join the proposed east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail. Mr Burnham said it would bring “huge benefits” to passengers, and could be financed through a partnership between national and local government with private businesses.
The report found that a new line is the ‘only suitable option’ for attracting private finance. It also estimated that it could save the taxpayer £2 billion on costs from the HS2 Phase 2 cancellation by reusing much of the land, powers, and design work that has already been secured through public investment. But some details around the plans were lacking – the total cos.