Skip to content

Ex-rail minister hopeful of alternative HS2 plans

Kaleigh WattersonBBC Cheshire political reporter
News imageUK Parliament Parliamentary portrait of former MP Huw MerrimanUK Parliament
Huw Merriman was a Conservative MP and previously the minister for rail and HS2

A former Conservative minister said he was hopeful a high speed rail link between Birmingham and Manchester could be delivered if Andy Burnham became prime minister.

Burnham has said he wants to reinstate the northern leg of HS2 with it funded in a similar way to Crossrail in London which had contributions from business.

Huw Merriman, chair of the Liverpool to Manchester Rail Board and a former rail minister, told BBC Politics North West it was "really exciting" as an enabler for growth.

Under initial plans, HS2 would have run from London to Birmingham, and then on two separate lines to Leeds and Manchester, but those plans got cancelled.

In March, the government ordered the company building the project to consider lower speeds on the line.

Andy Burnham told The i Paper earlier this month he felt the "lack of high-quality rail infrastructure" in the north of England "holds back its growth potential".

He also said there could be a "cleverer way" of funding any alternative to HS2, highlighting the funding for Crossrail - now open as the Elizabeth Line in central London.

News imagePA Huw Merriman (left) and Steve Rotheram (right). They are on College Green at Westminster, so the House of Commons is in the background out of focus. Steve Rotheram is holding a booklet about rail growth called "Connecting the North West to drive national prosperity".PA
Former Conservative minister Huw Merriman has joined Labour figures like the mayor of the Liverpool City Region on pushing forward plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail

Asked about how having the former mayor of Greater Manchester as a potential prime minister could impact the plans for rail in the north, Merriman said he felt it was "really exciting".

"The Liverpool to Manchester railway route is the last 12 miles of what would have been the Birmingham to Manchester end of HS2, so it's an enabler not just for growth but also to allow north-south connectivity.

"So if there is a new proposition, and he's talked that up, then yes it will be more of a Crossrail model where in that instance London and government work together as partners.

"Here we'd see the region and government working not just for Liverpool-Manchester railway but also the ability to go further south to Birmingham which is the real prize that I'm really hopeful we will be able to deliver as well."

Leaders in Cheshire East are also hoping for an alternative to the northern leg of HS2, as Crewe was due to become a hub station on the line and the authority had planned investment around the station.

That is similar to plans for Warrington Council around Bank Quay Station, a stop on Northern Powerhouse Rail.

"The council would strongly support any new advancement of plans for a Birmingham to Manchester rail link, whether through the reinstatement of HS2 north or an alternative option," it said.

"Either way Crewe must play its central role in integrating the network and its associated economic growth opportunities."

Read more Cheshire stories from the BBC and follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.