Grayling reveals government's preferred Northern route for HS2

The government has set out its preferred route for Phase Two of HS2 from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds. However, the announcement does not include a final decision about where to locate a new station in or near Sheffield.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling today (15 November) confirmed the majority of the preferred HS2 route from Crewe to Manchester and the West Midlands to Leeds.

Grayling has published a command paper, High Speed Two: from Crewe to Manchester, the West Midlands to Leeds and beyond, and accompanying maps setting out the detail of his preferred route for HS2 from Crewe to Manchester, and from the West Midlands to Leeds, with junctions onto the existing network. This is known as HS2 Phase 2b.

The government's preferred option is for the main HS2 route to run east of Sheffield, with a separate spur to take passengers to Sheffield city centre. It is estimated that this would cost around £1bn less than alternative suggestions. which involved taking the main HS2 line through Sheffield city centre or to a new station at the Meadowhall shopping centre just outside Sheffield, near the M1. A  spur will take HS2 to a new station at Manchester airport.

The first phase of the railway is due to open in December 2026. This will see trains to travel at high speed between London and Birmingham before continuing on the existing West Coast Main Line. The second, Y-shaped phase is due to be completed in around 2032-33.

As the full network is completed, new HS2 trains will continue up the East and West Coast Main Lines, serving areas including:

•       Stafford

•       Liverpool

•       Preston

•       Warrington

•       Wigan

•       Carlisle

•       Glasgow

•       York

•       Darlington

•       Durham

•       Newcastle

•       Edinburgh

When HS2 is complete in 2033, the DfT says the total number of main line commuter and intercity trains per hour each way into and out of Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds will almost double to 48 – the total number of intercity seats will treble to almost 15,000 per hour.

It is planned that new HS2 trains will carry over 300,000 people a day and will triple seats available out of Euston at peak hours, freeing up space on the existing network for additional commuter and freight services.

A new £900m contract has been awarded for preparatory work for the West Midlands to London route. The companies have been awarded the Phase One enabling works contracts are:

•       Area South – CS JV (Costain Group, Skanska Construction UK)

•       Area Central – Fusion JV (Morgan Sindall, BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial Agroman (UK))

•       Area North – LM JV (Laing O’Rourke Construction and  Murphy & Sons)

The works include archaeological investigations, site clearance and the setting up of construction compounds ahead of the start of the main civil engineering work.

Grayling said HS2 would create around 25,000 jobs during construction as well as 2,000 apprenticeships. It will also support growth in the wider economy, worth an additional 100,000 jobs.