Bill to extend HS2 from Crewe to Manchester, creating a new transport spine across the North West that will reduce journey times and boost local economies
Passengers across the North West are one step closer to faster, greener and more reliable train services as the government will today (24 January 2022) introduce the bill for the next phase of HS2.
Once approved, the High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester) Bill will allow HS2 to continue its journey from Crewe to Manchester, creating a new transport spine across the North West and boosting local economies through better connections, more capacity, improved reliability and slashed journey times.
This includes cutting travel from London to Manchester by around 55 minutes and Birmingham to Manchester by up to 45 minutes.
It is also set to bring 17,500 direct jobs to Northern communities supporting the construction of the Crewe to Manchester leg and thousands of further jobs in the supply chain expected to follow. This includes hundreds of highly skilled permanent jobs, including in rolling stock depots to be established north of Crewe, as well as in Dumfries and Galloway.
The introduction of this bill marks the next chapter in a project that is already well underway by connecting 3 of England’s greatest cities – London, Birmingham and Manchester.
This next phase will give the North West the tools it needs to further generate economic growth and level up across the region, with new stations supporting one of the UK’s fastest-growing cities at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
Part of the new high speed line will also be used for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) services between Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, helping cut the Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool journey to 35 minutes and Leeds to Liverpool to around an hour and a quarter.
The construction of HS2 to Manchester will allow capacity to double, or more, on the routes between Manchester and London to Birmingham.
When NPR is completed, similar capacity increases to Leeds and Liverpool will follow, with trains using the High Speed line and stations at Manchester.
The plans are all part of the £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan – the biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network – and the first of 3 new high speed lines being planned, to add more seats, shorten journey times, support local services and deliver a modern, fully connected transport network fit for Manchester and the North West.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
Published last year, the Integrated Rail Plan set out a list of projects that will deliver better infrastructure for the North, quicker.
HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said:
The bill will also allow for a new high speed stations and junctions to be built at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport futureproofing services along the Western Leg and facilitating Northern Powerhouse Rail to be built at a later date – which could include lines from Manchester to Liverpool and Leeds.
In addition to this, a new junction near Crewe will be developed not only improving future services on the route but giving Crewe the potential to be a Hub station in mid-Cheshire able to accommodate more trains.
At the same time, HS2 Ltd also announced that it will aim to deliver a 10% net gain in biodiversity for replaceable habitats on the Crewe to Manchester route. This means going beyond existing mitigation and compensation schemes, delivering more biodiversity than existed before construction, and ensuring a bigger and better environmental legacy.
This comes less than 2 weeks after the HS2 Minister announced that HS2 trains will run on zero carbon energy from day one aligning the country’s biggest infrastructure project with the government’s ambitions for a greener transport and construction future.
Clare Hayward MBE, DL, Chair of the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, said:
Chris Fletcher, Marketing and Campaigns Director, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: