Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester will lead to reduced capacity on passenger trains to the North West and could cut economic growth, the government spending watchdog has found.
Mr Sunak controversially cancelled the high-speed line north of Birmingham at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester last October, describing the troubled project as part of a “false consensus”.
Since then, HS2 trains have been scheduled to shift from high-speed track to the existing line north of Birmingham, but a report by the National Audit Office has found that capacity will reduce by up to 17% on the west coast line as a result.
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The NAO says that to manage demand, the Department for Transport may have to consider discouraging passengers from using the train, presumably by increasing prices – a move that would run counter to the reason for building new rail capacity in the first place.
The NAO says ministers could consider “incentivising people to travel at different times or to not travel by rail. This may constrain economic growth in the region over the long term and increase environmental costs”.
Adding capacity by using longer trains will require new infrastructure, including new lines and longer platforms at stations including Crewe, which the NAO judges would be “expensive, disruptive… and create disruption on a busy route”.
The watchdog’s report also finds that scrapping the new line between Birmingham and Manchester could cost as much as £100m on remediation works, and £592m has already been spent on buying land and around 1,000 properties on the northern leg that will take years to divest.
Sky News revealed earlier this month that more than £232m had been paid out in compensation to people and businesses based along phase two of the original route – more than 40% of the total payments of more than £550m for the whole project.
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