Photo: HS2.org
The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has announced a re-direction of £36 billion in funds towards transport infrastructure after scrapping High Speed Railway 2 (HS2) plans and a further £12 billion on transport connections between Liverpool and Manchester.
The funds come as part of the government’s latest transport project plan ‘Network North’. This replaces the previous HS2 plan, a planned high-speed railway line connecting the West Midlands, Birmingham, and London, which had been a part of the government’s agenda since 2009.
In the announcement, the Prime Minister promised said that “every single penny” that was funded into HS2 would be re-invested into transport.
Sunak unveiled his vision to upgrade public transport in particular, supposedly the form of transport that people use the most. The new plans aim to radically improve travel between and within cities, towns, and local areas.
The UK government claimed that the HS2 project reportedly accounted for over one-third of all the government’s transport investments.
However, the Government promised that it will deliver HS2 between Euston in central London and the West Midlands as planned, with a station at Old Oak Common and Birmingham Interchange and branches to central Birmingham and Handsacre, near Lichfield – where HS2 trains for Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland will join the West Coast Main Line.
Rather than delivering HS2 Phase 2 new line between Birmingham and Manchester, the Prime Minister has claimed that the government is instead taking action to deliver greater quality of transport infrastructure across the whole country.
Communities in towns, cities and rural areas that are reported to benefit from £19.8 billion of the reinvestment include:
- £2 billion for a new station at Bradford and a new connection to Manchester;
- £2.5 billion to deliver a new mass transit system in West Yorkshire;
- £3 billion for upgraded and electrified lines between Manchester and Sheffield, Sheffield and Leeds, Sheffield and Hull, and Hull-Leeds.
- Nearly £4 billion more funding for local transport in the North’s six city regions.
- A new £2.5 billion fund for local transport across all areas in the North outside the six city regions – smaller cities, counties, towns and countryside.
- A new £3.3 billion fund for road resurfacing.
- Landmark investments in roads, reopened train lines and new stations;
- Funding the Midlands Rail Hub in full with £1.75 billion, connecting 50 stations and over 7 million people – doubling capacity and frequency;
- Over £1.5 billion guaranteed local transport funding for the new East Midlands Mayor;
- Over £1 billion extra local transport funding for West Midlands City Region;
- A new £2.2 billion fund for local transport across all areas in the West and East Midlands outside the city regions – smaller cities, counties, towns and countryside.
- Reopened train lines and new stations such as the Ivanhoe Line;
- The development of Midlands road schemes to benefit businesses and their employees at Rolls Royce, Toyota, and Magna Park, generating over £12 billion for the local economy.
- Rail improvements in the Southwest;
- Keeping the £2 bus fare until the end of December 2024;
- Ensuring the delivery of road schemes;
- Transforming Ely Junction; and billions to fix potholes on the country’s roads;
- Greater connectivity for both Scotland and Wales with improvements to the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer, and £1 billion to fund the electrification of the North Wales Main Line.
