High Speed Two: an engine for growth
Published 11 September 2013
© Crown copyright 2013
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HS2 key facts
HS2 will be 351 miles of new track linking London to Birmingham and Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. We haven’t built a new railway north of London for over 120 years.
Construction is expected to begin in 2017.
Phase One is scheduled to open in 2026 and Phase Two in 2033.
The budget for HS2 is £42.6 billion over 20 years, including £14.4 billion of contingency.
The target price for Phase One – London to Birmingham is £17.16 billion.
In addition to HS2 government plans to invest over £56 billion on roads, rail and local transport between 2015 and 2021, compared to £16 billion on HS2 over this period.
Capacity
Journeys on intercity trains have doubled from 1997 to 2013 to 128 million a year. Parts of the west coast mainline are full in terms of the number of trains they can carry, many of which are full to overflowing.
All rail journeys have doubled from 1995 to 2012 from 750 million a year to 1.5 billion a year.
HS2 will treble the number of peak hour seats at Euston from 11,300 to, up to 34,900. That’s the equivalent of a full house at Pride Park - home of Derby County FC.
Compared with today’s capacity, ultimately HS2 will triple the seats available. The initial Phase One service plan for HS2 in 2026 doubles seating capacity and more than doubles commuter seat capacity, where the crowding pressure is greatest.
Up to 18 trains will run per hour in each direction each carrying as many as 1,100 passengers.
HS2 frees up capacity for freight on the existing rail network, with every extra freight train taking 40 lorries off the road.
A recent study by Network Rail has shown that, with HS2, over 100 towns and cities across the country could benefit from new commuter and intercity services on existing lines.
Connectivity
HS2 will link 8 of Britain’s 10 largest cities, serving 1 in 5 of the UK population.
The stations in Leeds, Sheffield, East Midlands and Birmingham will each be separated by a journey of less than 20 minutes.
Regeneration and growth
HS2 will support over 100,000 jobs. The Core Cities group estimate this could be as many as 400,000 jobs. A recent report by Centro found that there will be 50,000 jobs in Birmingham alone.
70% of jobs created by HS2 are expected to be outside of London.
The HS2 Growth Taskforce, led by Lord Deighton, will have a relentless focus of maximising the economic growth potential of HS2.