Will HS2 stop between London and Birmingham?

Rishi Sunak's decision to axe the northern leg of HS2 is yet another scaling-back of the multi-billion pound project. Under the new plans, high-speed trains will only run between London and Birmingham, before switching over to the existing West Coast Main Line between Birmingham and Manchester.



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Stations on the first phase of the line are meant to be London Euston, Old Oak Common in west London, Birmingham Interchange and Birmingham Curzon Street. The second phase was meant to see trains head northwest to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly, or use existing lines via Wigan, Crewe and Stafford.

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How much will tickets cost? There is likely to be a premium of between 20 and 33 per cent for using the fast service. That would in theory push the cost of a London-Manchester Anytime ticket from £180 to £240 at 2020 prices, which works out at 6p per second.

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HS2 was originally envisaged to operate more trains an hour and higher speeds than any comparable high-speed line elsewhere in the world. It has been estimated that this pushed up costs by about 10 per cent.

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HS2 blasts through sensitive wildlife sites, because the speed means the tracks need to be straight. Possible connections between HS2 and other railways, especially East West Railway, have been ignored. HS2 does not provide interconnectivity and is far from an integrated solution.

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The main gain of HS2 is that it frees up space on the rail network for more freight services. This point has often been missed in discussions about the project. There is no doubt that there would be environmental gains. The passenger gains are less compelling and less urgent.

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The HS2 Action Alliance criticised the Department of Transport's demand forecasts as being too high, as well as having other shortcomings in the assessment methodology. Action Groups Against High Speed Two (AGHAST) claimed in 2011 that the project was not viable economically.

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HS2 Ltd's destruction of ancient woodland and veteran trees is unacceptable. We'll keep pushing hard to save these precious habitats.

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High Speed 2 (HS2) Ltd is a non-departmental public body, wholly funded by the Secretary of State for Transport and sponsored by the Department for Transport. The HS2 project is one of the largest and most complex infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK.

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