Transport secretary says route could be changed, resulting in lower speeds for trains

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

HS2 could run slower north of Birmingham in order to cut costs, Grant Shapps has said as he criticised the project’s “obsession” with cutting journey times.

The transport secretary said a review of the planned line from Birmingham to Leeds and Crewe to Manchester could lead to the route changing slightly, possibly making it less straight and therefore lowering the speed.

The government argues it would be counterproductive to delay the first phase of HS2, between London and Birmingham, by looking again at costs but wants to re-examine parts of the second phase north of Birmingham to help bring down the price tag, which could exceed £100bn.

Asked by the BBC whether the service would be different north of Birmingham, Shapps said: “I think not dramatically different, but you are right. There has been some over-specification.”

He cited the so-called Golborne spur – part of the line near Manchester – as an example of an area that could be reworked, saying it added billions to the cost with little benefit.

Shapps said there had been a level of “gold plating to this project and the obsession with getting time off the journey belies where we are as this country”.

Amid the government’s fanfare about bringing new infrastructure to the north of England, HS2 is not forecast to be delivered to passengers in Manchester and Leeds until between 2037 and 2040.

The government hopes to compress this timetable, in part by integrating the final phase of the project into work on existing and new transport routes, such as a planned higher-speed rail link between Manchester and Leeds.

Speaking later at a north of England transport summit in central Manchester, Shapps said a consultation on the Manchester-Leeds rail connection was “ready to go”.

He said: “I’m here immediately – immediately – after the prime minister announced that we’re going ahead with HS2 … Just as important as the spinal connection to London is the east-west northern powerhouse rail to connect towns and cities across the north, and we are absolutely committed to high speed north.



“As a government we are determined to repay the trust of the millions of voters who voted Conservative for the first time last time, and to restore a sense of connection that many communities have lost.”

On BBC Breakfast, Shapps was shown footage of a couple whose family have lived in their street for 100 years and who have been told they must move out within a month so that their property can be bulldozed for HS2.

Q&A How much work has already been done on HS2 - and how much has it cost? Show Hide As of March 2019, £7.4bn had been spent. Much of the work done so far has been on paper: detailed engineering designs of the length of the route, years of public consultation, and legislation. Officially launched by Labour in 2009, HS2 was reviewed and tweaked by the coalition government and green-lighted in 2012. So far money has been spent on detailed engineering designs of the length of the route, years of public consultation, and legislation. Buying land along the route, either for direct demolition or to relieve blighted homeowners, has accounted for a large total of the £7.4bn invested to date. In terms of physical activity, so-called preparatory works have started, although no track or tunnel has yet been built. At the southern end, HS2 has demolished housing estates, parks and office blocks around Euston, and started moving tens of thousands of skeletons out of the way. Train depots and industrial estates have been razed to build another HS2 station at Old Oak Common, while brownfield sites in Birmingham have been levelled for the Curzon Street station and approach. According to HS2, work has taken place at 250 sites, including archaeological digs and tree planting as well as construction. Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent

Shapps said this was “heartbreaking” but he defended the project overall as essential, later saying: “If you believe in the future of the country, you have to do it.”

Shapps toured the broadcast studios to promote HS2 a day after Boris Johnson said he wanted to go ahead with the line. The prime minister had ordered a review to look at the value for money of the scheme and concluded it should go ahead in full.

Play Video 2:51 HS2: Boris Johnson gives go-ahead to high-speed rail project – video

Johnson told the House of Commons on Tuesday that the management of the project must be overhauled and pledged to appoint a dedicated HS2 minister to scrutinise its delivery.

Shapps said the government would approach HS2 like delivery of the Olympics, with a Cobra sub-committee to ensure it is taken seriously by ministers.

Timeline HS2 - over-budget and behind schedule Show Hide High Speed Two Ltd is set up by the Labour government to examine possibilities for increasing high-speed rail capacity in the UK. The project is split into two phases - London to Birmingham forms phase one, with phase two extending the route to Manchester and Leeds. The transport secretary, Conservative Justine Greening, announces the decision to build HS2. A judicial review is called into the HS2 decision. Lord Justice Ouseley upholds one of the 10 grounds for complaint about HS2 in the judicial review – the claim that the government had acted unfairly and unlawfully when consulting on compensation for homeowners affected by the route. The Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, describes the project as "absolutely vital" as MPs approve funding. The high-speed rail (London-West Midlands) bill is formally introduced in parliament. After freedom of information requests, a 2012 Department for Transport viability report into HS2 is released, revealing the department considered it unaffordable. Allan Cook replaces Sir Terry Morgan as chair of HS2, after the latter fails to deliver the opening of the Crossrail project in London on schedule. A report from the New Economics Foundation suggests HS2 will deliver the most benefit to London, and exacerbate regional inequality. A fresh government review begins into HS2 into whether the scheme should be approved, amended or scrapped entirely. The Conservative transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announces that full HS2 services between London and Birmingham will be delayed by up to five years to 2031, and that the final completion of the northern section of the high-speed rail network would likely be delayed by seven years until 2040. He also confirmed the budget had escalated from the official £56bn at 2015 prices to up to £88bn at today’s prices. After a period of review, prime minister Boris Johnson announces that HS2 will go ahead, alongside a package of measures aimed at improving bus and cycling links outside of London.

The decision to go ahead is controversial among many Tory MPs whose constituencies are affected by the line, but opposition in the Commons was muted as the project has been approved so many times before by previous prime ministers.

Environmental groups criticised the impact on ancient woodland and wildlife, while unions and business groups said HS2 should now proceed with no more delays.