Plans to press ahead with the eastern leg of High Speed 2 from Birmingham to Leeds have been confirmed by the Transport Secretary following months of speculation that the route may be dropped.
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Grant Shapps told an event organised by think tank Policy Exchange that the Government is committed to the eastern leg and remarked that the scheme’s delivery could be brought forward “quite dramatically by building it in a smarter way”.
“The only question we have,” he said, is how to better integrate the project “with plans which have developed a very long way since HS2 was first dreamt up all those decades ago,” including Northern Powerhouse Rail and schemes in the Midlands.
This will be addressed in the forthcoming Integrated Rail Plan, which he told the session would report “soon”. Pressure has been growing on the Government to publish the plan, including from northern leaders.
Transport for the North’s interim chief executive Tim Wood said last week that while the Government has committed to delivering key projects in the region, “there are question marks hanging over the detail until the Integrated Rail Plan is unveiled”.
Urging its publication as soon as possible, he said the plan is a “once in a generation opportunity to re-write the story of the north’s railways and address the legacy – and resulting problems – of under investment we’ve seen for decades”.
Transport for the North said earlier this year it would delay the submission of a business case for Northern Powerhouse Rail until the Integrated Rail Plan is released.
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin commented: “We need the Government to urgently publish the Integrated Rail Plan and commit to the Trans Pennine upgrade in full, Northern Powerhouse Rail with a city centre station in Bradford, the HS2 eastern leg on the same timetable as the western leg, and regional electrification.”
Grant Shapps also told the event that major transport infrastructure projects will not be paused post-pandemic, describing suggestions to do so as “short sighted”. He added: “We’ve had a stop-start approach to transport investment for decades in this country, and it’s damaged our productivity and our ability to compete.”
He also emphasised that “the immediate challenge in the months ahead is to ensure that public transport recovers at least as well as private car use”, and warned that “if journeys shift permanently from bus and train to car, our roads will slow down, our cities will choke and our economy will be damaged”.
(Photograph: Department for Transport)
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