We write in response to Simon Jenkins’ article (This is a final chance to scrap HS2. The north now needs HS3, 16 April). HS2 is backed by leaders in the north. The capacity that HS2 provides makes Northern Powerhouse Rail possible, and without both we won’t reach our economic potential. In the north, we have been held back because of a transport infrastructure that is simply not good enough, with a lack of capacity to support fast and frequent connections for routes serving our towns and cities. HS2, linked with Northern Powerhouse Rail, will make it easier for people to move between towns and cities, help businesses connect with each other and their customers, and act as a catalyst for local growth.
Across the country, HS2 station sites have been preparing for the arrival of the new railway by drawing up economic plans to take advantage of better connections and released capacity. The economic output of Greater Manchester could double to around £132bn by 2050, contributing at least 40,000 new jobs. Liverpool city region forecasts £15bn of economic growth and 24,000 new jobs. The prize is similar across the north and Midlands, with plans along the HS2 route showing nearly 500,000 jobs can be created if we just get on with it. We don’t need London commentators telling northern leaders what we need. No one asked London to choose between HS2 and Crossrail. We know what we need. We need HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Andy Burnham Mayor of Greater Manchester and Steve Rotheram Mayor of the Liverpool city region
• Simon Jenkins hits the bullseye. HS2 would merely have the effect of turning Birmingham into a London suburb. We need a major investment programme in high-speed rail that runs from Liverpool to Hull, and up to Newcastle. This programme must also link up all of the cities and smaller towns in between so that people can access decent-paying jobs without having to up sticks and move away from home. Both for the sake of justice, as well as on economic grounds, such a programme should take precedence over HS2.
Frank Field MP
Independent, House of Commons
• As he usually does, Simon hits a nail right on the head. I’d just like to raise an aspect of this which is going to be very expensive, though it would bring great benefits. The part of the Transpennine rail route which is really desperately in need of investment is not that across the Pennines, as is often assumed, but those through the centres of Manchester and Leeds. Here the track layouts are congested and rampant with sharp curves and junctions which prevent train movement at anything over a crawl for miles. A similar situation exists for all trains traversing Leeds from west to east. It is probable that, due to land availability constraints, the only way to bypass these situations will be by tunnelling, as has been done in London by Crossrail, and this will need serious expenditure.
• Simon Jenkins seems to be advocating the doughnut model of strategic transport planning – infrastructure in the north and south but nothing in the middle to join the halves together. HS2 not only links the north to the south, it builds capacity where the west coast mainline is stretched to the limit and promises extensive network improvements throughout the West Midlands. It may make more sense to bypass London, using Old Oak Common as a gateway to central London, with a south circular link to HS1, so avoiding the rather bizarre proposal to terminate at Euston, with a half-mile stroll to St Pancras, but this doesn’t address the nub of the case for HS2. It would make even more sense if Birmingham airport was developed as the fourth London airport, so avoiding yet more congestion in the already overcrowded south-east.
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
• Simon Jenkins is right to challenge the financial runaway train that is HS2. It is unlikely to reach beyond Birmingham. However, Jenkins has a sideways swipe at the previous try that we will call HS Zero – the Great Central 1899 line through Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester to London. That was built and on the level, with few curves and to continental loading gauge. What did we do with that? Dumped it 50 years ago and, worse, built on the route instead of mothballing it. A high-speed route through the spine of England. If we have all this money to spend, let’s rebuild the missing 12 miles on the Midland mainline through Bakewell and reconnect the East Midlands direct to Manchester.
• The key justification for HS2 is that the west coast mainline is simply running out of capacity. As a very frequent user over the past 20 years, I have noticed that the occupancy of the seats has grown considerably over that period and on many trains, spare seats are at a premium. Alternative solutions have been reviewed – longer trains (requiring longer platforms) being the principal one, but the cost would be very similar to that of HS2, and the disruption much greater due to the ancillary work of track realignment and building destruction which would be required. Simon Jenkins does not recognise the issue of capacity, and until he does so and someone finds an alternative solution to the capacity problem, then the case for HS2 remains unanswerable.