DETAILS of the second phase of Britain's new High Speed line HS2 have been published today. The maps released by the Department for Transport confirm that there are to be two spurs north of the West Midlands, going to Manchester and Leeds.
The routes will include intermediate stations at Crewe, Manchester Airport, the East Midlands and Sheffield Meadowhall.
Journey times will be slashed, with London-Manchester coming down to a predicted 1hr8min, but the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "It's not just about journey times, it is also about capacity. We are finding that the railways are overcrowded."
The line to Manchester divides at a triangular junction south west of Altrincham, with the right hand spur continuing to Manchester Piccadilly and the left to a junction with the existing West Coast Main Line south of Wigan. This will allow trains to use HS2 from London as far as Lancashire and then join the existing West Coast Main Line to serve Preston, Carlisle and Scotland.
As expected, a spur to Heathrow Airport has been removed from the Phase 2 plans for now, until the future role of Heathrow itself becomes clearer.
Objections to some of the proposed alignments have already been made, such as in north Leicestershire, where there were fears that HS2 could prevent a planned freight depot being built.
However, voices have also been raised in favour of the scheme.
The Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership said the extension 'represents one of the most important opportunities to bring about a step change in jobs, connectivity and economic growth', while Jim Steer of pro-HS2 group Greengauge21 said: "The new routes will be of tremendous benefit to Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and the East Midlands, and this is reflected in the enthusiastic support from city and business leaders. Many other cities in the Midlands and the North will also get an economic boost from the improved services over existing lines."
Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle told Sky News that Labour had supported High Speed rail when it was in office, but that she was concerned about some aspects of the plans for Phase 2.
"One is that we appear to be missing our major cities, and connectivity is actually important. And secondly, the government appear to be retreating from connecting it to our major hub airport, Heathrow."
She also said there were 'worrying signs' that the timetable was slipping. She added: "We believe ministers should be working more vigorously to ensure the proposals are delivered on time."
A consultation over the details of Phase 2 will now be launched, while the consultation into property compensation arrangements for Phase 1 closes on Thursday.