Is this all a big distraction or are we getting something decent …

Downing Street has called it the 'recast' of HS2^[1]. The end of the line for high-speed rail to Manchester^[2] was announced on Wednesday (October 4).

Rishi Sunak said his government now wants to make sure the multi-billion-pound scheme is part of a 'blend of projects', 'rather than putting all of our eggs in one basket', as the document accompanying the announcement of the Network North transport package, describes it.

Another new promise, after years of new promises, to fix the crippling rail issues of Greater Manchester and the North.

Business analysts in Manchester say Mr Sunak's Network North plan would likely be 'treated with cynicism and scepticism by a lot of people'. "The simple fact is that irrespective of what it is called, we are still no nearer getting the transport network that we actually needed years ago," the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce has concluded.

But does Network North actually contain anything new for our region? There's certainly nothing in the announcement pertaining to the heavily-congested Castlefield corridor into Manchester for which a long-planned solution was finally scrapped earlier this year^[5].

However, the Network North plans promise quicker journeys from Manchester across the Pennines, the prospect of a new line to Liverpool and the extension of the Metrolink.

These promises are not new but have been repackaged as an alternative to the high-speed line from Birmingham to Manchester.

What's left of HS2

The government has confirmed it would complete the first phase of HS2 between London and the West Midlands as planned, although HS2 going all the way to Euston rather than stopping six miles away at Old Oak Common is now said to be contingent on private investment. There will be two branches of the HS2 line- one to central Birmingham and one to Handsacre, near Lichfield.

The government said it would mean passengers would be able to travel on HS2 trains through to Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland, but by joining the West Coast Main Line for the rest of their journeys. However, HS2 to Manchester was supposed to ease the burden on this busy line to London and on local services.

The government said the new HS2 plan would cut the current journey time between London and Manchester by nearly half an hour. The two branch approach would have a 'transformative effect on rail capacity', vastly increasing seats on the West Coast Main Line, the government has said.

East - West connections

"We will also invest £12bn [in 2023 prices] to better connect Manchester to Liverpool," the documents go on.

"This would allow the delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail as previously planned, including high-speed lines. But we will work with local leaders to agree whether they wish to suggest other ways to achieve the objectives within that cost envelope."

The vow to work with local leaders will be welcome. And responding to the announcement, think-tank Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) said that this funding means that part of the HS2 line between Manchester Airport^[6] and Piccadilly station could still be built.

Northern Powerhouse Rail trains - travelling between Liverpool and Leeds - were first mooted in 2014. Under the previous HS2 plans, they would have passed through Manchester on the HS2 line before continuing to other parts of the region.

However, now the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail is uncertain. NPP chief executive Henri Murison said the HS2 bill currently in Parliament must be passed to make sure it happens - and that the bill being passed could leave the door open for a future reversal of the decision to scrap the HS2 leg to Manchester.

"We now need a commitment from the Prime Minister to not seek to stop the passage of the hybrid bill which is essential to being able to build the first phase of [Northern Powerhouse Rail] from Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly," he said.

"The passage of the hybrid bill will allow any future government to build HS2 in full, and this close to a General Election, that change in direction could come if any future review shows the Prime Minister’s plans for West Coast Mainline are indeed unworkable."

Nevertheless, the government has said that swathes of land earmarked for the HS2 routes now scrapped, including the leg to Manchester, will not be protected for potential future expansion of the high-speed railway.

Transport secretary Mark Harper has said that land and property already acquired for the project will be sold^[7] to cover the cost of pulling out of contracts previously awarded for HS2.

Labour^[8] leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that this means he cannot commit to reviving the Manchester leg of HS2 if his party wins the next general election. What this all means for the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail for Manchester remains unclear.

As part of the Network North plans, the government also said it would bring Bradford into Northern Powerhouse Rail by investing £2bn into a new rail station and line connection which would almost half journey times to Manchester to 30 minutes. But, according to Labour, improved connectivity between Bradford and Manchester was already part of the Northern Powerhouse Rail plan which was scaled back in late 2021 by Boris Johnson's government despite featuring in three consecutive manifestos.

The government also said that train journeys from Hull to Manchester would be cut by electrifying and improving the line speed between Hull to Leeds and Hull to Sheffield. Electrifying the Hope Valley line between Sheffield to Manchester will also cut journey times and double capacity, according to the Network North plans - although more fast trains on this line isn't a new promise either.

Metrolink

At first glance, Metrolink^[9] appears to be the real winner with new lines out to places like Bolton^[10], Heywood^[11] and Wigan^[12] mentioned in the Network North document. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is already working on plans for these schemes^[13], some of which were promised by the Conservatives^[14] ahead of the last general election in 2019.

Business cases are being prepared for some of these proposals using £1bn of government funding given to Greater Manchester for a five-year period starting from 2022. The second round of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement funding for 2027 onwards was announced in March.

This week, the government said that Greater Manchester would get an additional £928m from this pot on top of what TfGM was already expecting in the next round of funding, taking the total the city-region will receive in three years' time for transport upgrades to nearly £2.5bn.

A TfGM spokesperson said: "We’re currently looking at the detail of the Network North announcement, which includes an indicative commitment of around £2.4bn to Greater Manchester for local transport through the City Region Sustainable Transport Fund for the period 2027/28 to 2030/31.

"This funding will support the continued development of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network and we will continue to work with government, our 10 local authorities and other key stakeholders to discuss how we can best invest the next round of funding in the best interests of our people, places and the taxpayer. Following the disappointing decision to cancel the high speed line between Birmingham and Manchester, we’ll also be working with partners to look at what this announcement means for Northern Powerhouse Rail and our broader strategic ambition to transform rail connectivity across the north of England."

Fairytales?

Speaking on Talk TV yesterday (October 5), Mr Murison described the list of transport projects promised in Mr Sunak's speech as 'a bit of a fairytale'. He said: "Some of the fairytales are already disappearing before our eyes - they've literally taken down the website which promises reopening the Ferryhill line [in County Durham] because I don't think the £36bn is going to be enough to do the various things they said it would do.

"It all feels a bit like the North's been really left out of HS2 and supposedly that money was all going to be spent in the North. Well, a lot of it has actually been spent on potholes and some of those potholes are in the South.

"So as much as I think the South is really important, I'm not sure that something that was designed to make people up here be able to get to places more easily is really replaced by fixing potholes in the South which should really be paid for anyway."

Responding to reports that the government had also dropped its commitment to reopen the Leamside Line in the North East, transport minister Richard Holden said that regional mayors will decide how the additional funding announced could be spent. This means that the projects mentioned in the Network North document are proposals which could be brought forward.

Commenting after the Northern leg to Manchester was axed, Chris Fletcher, who is the director of policy for the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce said: "After much speculation Government has at last shown its hand by announcing the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 and the money to be re-invested into yet another new scheme, Network North.

"Whilst this may sound like a better use of the money with new lines promised and road schemes included too, the simple fact is that irrespective of what it is called we are still no nearer getting the transport network that we actually needed years ago to unlock the north’s potential. We have been promised a lot before and nothing has been done and this latest attempt from Government will be treated with cynicism and scepticism by a lot of people.

"HS2 was a major investment opportunity for the UK that would unburden a worn-out network already at over capacity; boost the country’s net zero ambitions and open up labour markets and job opportunities on a scale like never before. Plus it was also a cornerstone of Northern Powerhouse Rail. Network North has to deliver all this and more and in a shorter timescale if this government is to have any credibility and successive governments' performance on this over the last decade has not been great.

"If the scale of what the PM announced is to be realised then there will have to be a huge investment in upskilling and training an army of workers for the challenge ahead. At present there are gaps and shortages in critical construction and engineering jobs, something HS2 has been good at resolving through apprenticeships and that will have to be stepped up unless we are to face yet more hold ups and delays in construction.

"This still has the feeling of a political concept rather than a practical solution. I would like to see the technical and engineering data and reports that this decision for HS2 was based on, and, how they have identified what the new programme of infrastructure will deliver. My guess is that this is still a back of a beer mat plan and reality will be very different.

"Put bluntly, we are fed up of broken promises, delays, cuts and hopes about finally getting what we need being dashed for political expediency. We will be watching closely and waiting on further details of what will be delivered and, more importantly, when."

The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment.

References

1. ^{^} HS2 (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
2. ^{^} The end of the line for high-speed rail to Manchester (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Every transport project Rishi Sunak claims will happen instead of HS2 in the north (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Their promises have been broken... we've been let down once again (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
5. ^{^} a long-planned solution was finally scrapped earlier this year (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
6. ^{^} Manchester Airport (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
7. ^{^} land and property already acquired for the project will be sold (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
8. ^{^} Labour (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
9. ^{^} Metrolink (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
10. ^{^} Bolton (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
11. ^{^} Heywood (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
12. ^{^} Wigan (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
13. ^{^} working on plans for these schemes (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
14. ^{^} Conservatives (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)