Really support
independent journalism
Our mission is to provide unbiased, fact-based reporting that empowers accountability and exposes the truth.
Whether it’s $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us in providing journalism without an agenda.
Call it a hunch if you will, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there’s just a chance that Mark Harper might not be transport secretary by the end of the week.
It looks like there will be a general election on Thursday. It is likely that some of us who do not own cars and instead rely on trains may not be properly grateful for all that the government has done to improve the railways. Other members of the electorate may have their own reasons for changing administration.
If it turns out, this week’s announcement of a proposed replacement for HS2 is the perfect epitaph for a government that has committed the most serious infrastructure vandalism by scrapping the high-speed link beyond Birmingham to Manchester.
HS2 is desperately needed between the West Midlands and North West England due to the desperate lack of capacity on existing Victorian rail. That’s why there was an all-party agreement for 15 years until Mark Harper’s boss Rishi Sunak scrapped it last October in a futile attempt to win electoral support.
The son of HS2 can now be revealed. Instead of frequent high-speed trains running on dedicated new lines to the vastly expanded and modernized Manchester Piccadilly station, it’s rather the other way around. London Northwestern Railway, which currently runs one stop an hour from Euston station in the capital to Crewe, wants permission to extend it to Manchester from summer 2026.
Declaration of interest here: I am a frequent user and big fan of the London Northwestern Railway. The rail company is pushing the boundaries of what is generally considered the limits of “commuter” trains. Most passengers use the company to places such as Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard and Northampton. But the train operator also has a useful service along the main west coast line to Stafford and Crewe.
I also like the Avanti West Coast, but for a walk-up ticket or morning rush hour travel, London Northwestern usually wins on price.
The company is now proposing a London-Crewe-Warrington-Manchester service. For those of us willing to drive an extra hour between London and Manchester, this would be a cheap and cheerful alternative.
London Northwestern says: “Following the cancellation of the northern section of HS2, these proposals will provide much-needed connectivity between Manchester, the West Midlands and London with thousands of extra seats every day.”
It promises “fares up to 50 percent cheaper than a major intercity train operator.”
The train would go to Manchester Victoria, not Piccadilly – which in itself is a good thing. The station serves the northern part of the city center and offers much better connections to a whole range of places beyond Manchester without having to change stations. It also has direct access to the excellent Manchester Metrolink (tram) without having to disappear up a few escalators into the bowels of Piccadilly station.
London Northwestern is far from alone in its desire to compete on the UK’s busiest intercity route.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group hopes to return to the network it created with “open access” connections to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow. And FirstGroup hopes to expand its high-speed/cheap/essential Lumo brand from the East Coast mainline to the West. Ironically, the capacity constraints caused by the cancellation of HS2 mean that passengers will almost certainly not enjoy the benefits of free and fair competition.
Having killed HS2, the government may welcome these moves to expand capacity and choice. I sure do. But I am not sure I will discuss them at length with Mr. Harper.