BEWARE of Coalition politicians bearing gifts, especially when that gift is a train set.
Trainspotter twins David Cameron and Nick Clegg say bringing 250mph trains to the north will create tens of thousands of new jobs.
The other issue is promised jobs for the North West. But in which direction? HS2 will bring London into regular commuting distance for northerners, perhaps creating a regional brain drain
Depending on who you talk to, it's great news for Liverpool. But shunt the debate into an Edge Hill siding and a different picture emerges.
Today’s announcement hails a proposal to build the new HS2 line from Birmingham to Manchester, with a separate leg up to Leeds.
Trains from Manchester to London will have a journey time of just over an hour. Liverpool misses out big time. Trains from Lime Street will use the existing West Coast line as far as Crewe and then pick up the HS2 line from there, with a city-to-city journey time of 1hr 36 mins – not much faster than the current trains.
The proposal will see a new station along the HS2 route to serve Manchester Airport – and that could be bad news for Liverpool John Lennon Airport. It will make Manchester a much more attractive hub airport, with the new rail link and station an attractive draw. We’ll probably be still seeing people lug their luggage off trains at Liverpool South Parkway to catch the 80 to Speke.
A new rail link is essential, but it is obvious there will be winners and losers. Rather than city fathers welcoming HS2 they should be demanding a goody bag to compensate for what we won’t have.
For Manchester it will be like winning a lottery rollover. As well as the boost for the airport, the city’s industry and economy will reap rewards of being one of the main centres of a trans-European high-speed network.
Even the Port of Manchester will enjoy a new gold rush. Imagine cargo being trained at high speed to Manchester, to be loaded onto barges up the ship canal for the journey to Seaforth to be loaded onto the super-size container ships for North America. A handful of jobs for crane drivers at Seaforth and that’s it.
Liverpool should be demanding, as a consolation prize, a dedicated rail link to Seaforth so freight can be transported across the UK. The existing West Coast line could be a vital national freight link.
At Crewe, trains on the HS2 line from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester will share the link down to Birmingham, making it a busy line from day one. It is hard to see anything other than an hourly or two hourly service from Liverpool, perhaps with some trains from Lime Street continuing to use the ‘scenic route’ the old West Coast line, all the way to Euston.
The other issue is promised jobs for the North West. But in which direction? HS2 will bring London into regular commuting distance for northerners, perhaps creating a regional brain drain.
It is ironic that Liverpool, birthplace of the modern railway age, could become a city at the end of a branch line.
If HS2 is completed in 2030, it would make a fitting anniversary to celebrate the opening in 1830 of the Liverpool to Manchester Railway, paid for by Liverpool entrepreneurs to become the first inter-city railway in the world.
