The Department for Transport has announced that it will remove the £3bn Golborne Link from the current HS2 Bill.
Officials said the independent Union Connectivity Review undertaken by Sir Peter Hendy ‘claimed’ that the 21km high speed rail link connecting HS2 to the West Coast Mainline does not resolve all the current capacity constraints on the West Coast Main Line between Crewe and Preston.
They added that in line with this review, the Government has committed to exploring a number of alternatives that could deliver similar benefits within the framework of the Integrated Rail Plan – ranging from upgrading existing infrastructure to brand new high speed links.
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The link would have takentrains from the main HS2 Phase 2b route before Manchester and connected to the West Coast Main Line close to Wigan, where they could continue to Glasgow.
HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson described the decision as being ‘about ensuring that we’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to working with our Scottish counterparts to find a solution that will best serve the great people of Scotland’.
He said: ‘HS2 is a once-in-a-lifetime project that will transform travel across the entire UK as we know it and serve millions of people for hundreds of years to come and it’s absolutely vital that we get this right from the outset.'
However, the decision was condemned by three leading rail industry groups – the Railway Industry Association, the Rail Freight Group and the High Speed Rail Group.
In a statement, they said: ‘Only six months ago, the Golborne Link was included in the Integrated Rail Plan, as well as the HS2 Phase 2b Bill. The Link has been provided for in the budget for HS2 and is needed to allow adequate capacity on the national rail network to fulfil its vital function of handling the nation’s longer distance movements of both passengers and freight.
‘Without this connection, a bottleneck will be created north of Crewe on the West Coast Main Line, which in turn will negatively impact outcomes for passengers, decarbonisation and levelling up.’
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