Ministers looking at ‘pipeline of schemes’ to run HS2 north of Birmingham
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Ministers are looking at a “realistic pipeline of schemes” to link HS2 to destinations north of Birmingham, the Transport Secretary has said. Heidi Alexander told the Commons that Labour last year found a “ragtag collection of half-baked, unfunded spending commitments for rail schemes up and down the country” after they won the general election.
Conservative shadow transport secretary Gareth Bacon accused Labour of having triggered an “ongoing decline in reliability” across the country, as a result of a pay deal last year with the Aslef trade union. MPs heard on Thursday that the Conservatives “panicked and mothballed” part of HS2, when the previous government scrapped plans to build a high-speed line between Birmingham and Manchester.
Ruth Cadbury, the Commons Transport Committee chairwoman, said: “The original vision for HS2 was to link London with the Midlands and the north and also to address the growing capacity challenge on the West Coast Main Line with a whole new rail line.
“The last government panicked and mothballed much of the project over cost overruns on phase one, thus incurring yet further costs. And I welcome the Secretary of State’s commitment to get a grip on the phase one cost overruns. “But what I want to know is does the Government plan to deliver a rail solution linking phase one north of Birmingham to the rest of the country, and thus delivering the Government’s vision to drive growth for the whole country.”.
Ms Alexander replied: “I’m pleased that she raises the question of the mess that we inherited from the Conservative government on HS2 and rail connectivity in the north. When we entered government in July we did find that ragtag collection of half-baked, unfunded spending commitments for rail schemes up and down the country.”.
