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New rail links need to be built to prevent transport capacity between England’s major cities running out within a decade, a new study has warned.
A review by private experts including Arup and Mace concluded that the 80km line could be completed faster and at lower cost than the HS2 section that was cancelled by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak last year.
The report said that without the new line “travel demand on the London-Manchester corridor will exceed line capacity within the next decade”.
The study, published in Manchester on Friday, added that the M6 ​​motorway, which runs from the Midlands to the Scottish Borders, faces “similar projections”.
“Doing nothing on this corridor is not an economically or operationally viable option,” the report warned, adding that the step was needed to accelerate growth in the country’s chronically stagnant rural cities.
The report was commissioned following Chancellor Sunak’s decision in October last year to stop construction of the northern section of HS2, a flagship high-speed rail line linking Manchester and Birmingham, citing rising costs and mismanagement.
Since then, business and political leaders in the Midlands and North have warned that reduced electricity capacity on the West Coast remains an unresolved issue.
In May, the National Infrastructure Commission predicted a surge in demand for rail services to Manchester and Birmingham over the next few years, and its chairman, Sir John Armitt, warned that without an alternative to HS2, growth in regional cities would be stifled.
Mr Armitt said “doing nothing” between Birmingham and Manchester was not a long-term solution, adding: “Without improved rail connections between the two regions, economic opportunities will be missed and the benefits of the first stage of HS2 will not be fully realised.”
The consortium, chaired by former HS2 chairman Sir David Higgins and led by Arup, has been commissioned by the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to consider routes and funding models for alternative lines.
The review concluded that a lower-specification line built in two stages, from Lichfield in the West Midlands to Crewe and then the High Leg in Cheshire, could make use of land already bought for HS2 and recover £2 billion of sunk costs.
The study suggests the line could be built for 60-75% of the original cost of HS2, but no figures were given. The previous Conservative government said scrapping the northern section of HS2 would save £36 billion.
The new line will free up freight space on the existing West Coast route and avoid the need for trains to travel through central Manchester’s notorious Castlefield Corridor, a bottleneck in the region.
The government is looking for savings ahead of its first budget next month, and the report has suggested some form of public-private partnership as a way of reducing public risk and investment.
The project, which could be integrated with others over the next 20 to 30 years, would bring certainty to the construction industry, reduce costs and attract private investment, it said.
Some investors have already said the prospects are attractive.
The proposals come as the government seeks to make savings this financial year to fulfil its election pledge to boost economic growth and close what it has inherited as a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances.
The report recommended setting up a new body to oversee further feasibility studies working with mayors, re-protecting all land originally protected as part of the northern section of HS2 rather than selling it off, and attracting international investors.
Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, said the West Coast Rail Corridor and the M6 ​​would become a “major obstacle to the UK’s economic growth” unless the UK “immediately implements” plans for rail capacity and connectivity between the North and the Midlands.
He said HS2 did not need to be revived to achieve this, but that “an early decision is needed to end the uncertainty”.
