ON November 15, Rail Minister and HS2 Minister Huw Merriman delivered his six-month update on High Speed 2. Although this is a twice-yearly event anyway, this came little more than a month after the Government axed the planned new railway north of Birmingham (RE330) to much criticism.
Speaking in the House of Commons on November 15, Mr Merriman once again claimed Network North, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced would ‘replace’ the HS2 investment, would direct spending away from the future phases of HS2 towards local and regional transport schemes. This is despite that money having never actually been allocated to the new railway. The Government suggests that this will be £36 billion, and that the railway will benefit from the investment, however, when it was announced the document contained projects that were not costed, or which had already been built!
Mr Merriman said: “We will complete Phase 1 of HS2 between London and the West Midlands. There will be two branches: one to central Birmingham, and one to Handsacre, near Lichfield, meaning passengers will be able to travel on HS2 trains through to Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland, joining the West Coast
