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   HS2
   This article is more than 2 years old

Final route for HS2 north of Birmingham to be revealed

   This article is more than 2 years old

   Paths of high-speed rail lines to Manchester and Leeds are due to be
   announced together with £6.6bn of construction contracts

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   An artist’s impression of the HS2 station at Euston, London

   [ ] An artist’s impression of the HS2 station at Euston, London, on
   which work is beginning this summer. Photograph: Grimshaw Architects/PA

   The controversial HS2 high-speed railway will take another step forward
   on Monday with the awarding of major construction contracts and the
   confirmation of the route north of Birmingham through Yorkshire.

   Contracts worth about £6.6bn and supporting 16,000 jobs will be
   announced for civil engineering projects in the first phase of HS2,
   between London and Birmingham, including tunnels and bridges along the
   line.
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   The final route for the second phase, the Y-shaped network towards
   Manchester and Leeds, will also be confirmed, including changes to the
   original proposed route around Sheffield. Plans for a dedicated HS2
   parkway station at a shopping centre were opposed by city councillors,
   and it is expected that the line will follow the M18, with a slow rail
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   The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, will also publish a bill to
   prioritise phase 2a of HS2, building the line faster as far as Crewe.
   This could mean faster services joining further north on the west coast
   mainline by 2027, six years earlier than first envisaged, enabling
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   government’s determination to deliver an economy that works for all”.

   David Higgins, chairman of HS2 Ltd, said: “HS2 was always designed to
   be much more than just a high-speed railway, and today we can see the
   opportunities it brings right around the country – spreading
   prosperity, acting as a catalyst for investment and rebalancing our
   economy 10 years before the railway even opens.”

   Opponents of the high-speed rail scheme claimed the government was
   drastically underestimating the true cost, and that construction was
   already delayed. The overall budget was revised up to £55.7bn, but
   estimates drawn up earlier this year on behalf of Lord Berkeley,
   chairman of the Rail Freight Group, who had argued at select committees
   for alternative routes for HS2 out of London, suggested it could be as
   high as £111bn.

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   environment it’s going through.”

   Joe Rukin, Stop HS2 campaign manager, said: “The cost of HS2 has
   already doubled once since it was first proposed so it should come as
   no surprise to anyone that it might double again.
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   is on time and on budget at £55.7bn.”

   The first major preparatory works for HS2 are starting around Euston
   station this summer, including the closure of a public park and
   demolition of hundreds of homes on neighbouring estates, as local
   residents brace for up to a decade of disruption. High-speed trains
   from London to Birmingham are due to start running in 2026.
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