4 October 2010
The government has today confirmed the building of two branches of the high-speed rail route from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.
A new line from London to Birmingham had already been announced but ministers had been deciding on the route beyond the West Midlands. The choice was between one line going to Manchester then Leeds – the ‘S’ route – or two separate lines, with the Leeds route going via the East Midlands – the ‘Y’ route.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond today told the Conservative Party conference that HS2 – the government company set up to research the merits of high-speed rail – had found that the ‘Y’ route would provide £25bn more in benefits than the ‘S’ option. This is made up of £15bn in benefits to business and other transport links and £10bn in additional revenue.
‘We have committed to a high-speed rail network that will change the social and economic geography of Britain; connecting our great population centres and our international gateways; transforming the way Britain works as profoundly as the coming of the original railways did in the mid-nineteenth century,’ he said.
He added that this would provide ‘connectivity not just between London and Birmingham, but onwards to Leeds and Manchester’. It was a project that would ‘make rail the mode of choice for most inter-city journeys within the UK’, he said.
Hammond also announced that the M4 bus lane outside London would be opened up to all motorists to ease congestion.
