Transport Insights

The FT (paywall) is reporting that HS2 Ltd is further delaying the planned link between the bit of the high speed railway that survived Rishi Sunak’s cull and the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

When Rishi Sunak scrapped the second phase of HS2 in October 2023, the extension to Handsacre (via Birmingham and direct) became part of Phase One as a compromise, albeit one that would potentially worsen congestion on the WCML.

The plan was to allow HS2 trains to join the WCML at Handsacre Junction, just north of Lichfield in Staffordshire, from where they could continue towards the North West and possibly Scotland.

But work was deferred.

Now, in a move attributed to a reset of the project under new CEO Mark Wild, the company building the high speed railway has said the link will be deferred further:

Mark Wild, our CEO, has been clear that HS2 faces serious cost and schedule challenges. We are resetting the project to get it back on track and address the mistakes of the past.

To support the reset, we are extending an existing deferral on works between Birmingham and Handsacre, where the new railway links with the west coast mainline. This will prioritise efforts and resources on the opening section of HS2 between Old Oak Common and Birmingham – getting the construction programme back in the right order.

We remain fully committed to completing the 18-mile stretch north of Birmingham and some essential construction in this area will continue. But this pause will mean that the benefits of HS2 are felt by passengers and businesses as quickly as possible while protecting the use of taxpayers’ money.

So it’s good news