A £ 3bn branch of the High Speed 2 network designed to speed up rail travel between London and Scotland has been quietly abandoned by ministers, sparking outrage from railway industry groups.
The change was announced on Monday evening when the result of the vote of confidence in Boris Johnson was being determined. Three major industry bodies said the decision to discard the Golborne link would create a bottleneck for trains and adversely affect passengers and freight.
HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said the decision followed the reservations expressed by Sir Peter Hendy, chairman of Network Rail, whose review of union connectivity said the link “does not solve all the problems identified” on the main line between Scotland and Crewe.
The 13-mile stretch of the new runway would have crossed the Altrincham and Sale West constituency of Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, who led Monday’s Conservative MPs’ vote.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had given Brady “verbal assurances” that the link would be dropped. The spur, which would allow high-speed trains on the London-Manchester HS2 line to connect with the West Coast main line south of Wigan, would have created more capacity and reduced travel times to Glasgow.
However, MPs in the region, including a Labor MP, as well as Brady and his colleagues, have been campaigning for years to abolish the link, and the government had promised to consider alternatives. An HS2 bill released in February still included the link to the plans.
Ministers have yet to decide how to replace the link. Stephenson said: “It is absolutely vital that we do this right from the start. great people of Scotland “.
However, a spokesman for the Railway Industry Association, the Railway Freight Group and the High Speed Rail Group said it was a “very disappointing” move on a day when much political attention is being paid. focused elsewhere, “and it would increase uncertainty for railway companies and people living along the line.
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They said: “The link is foreseen in the budget for HS2 and is necessary to allow adequate capacity in the national railway network to fulfill its vital function of managing the long-distance movements of both passengers and goods in the country. “Without this connection, a bottleneck will be created north of Crewe on the west coast main line, which in turn will adversely affect passenger performance, decarbonisation and leveling.”
The Department of Transportation said the timing of the announcement had been planned in advance and that the clash with the vote of confidence was entirely coincidental.
The eastern section of the HS2 to Leeds was removed last November in the government’s integrated rail plan.