The
Mayors
of
Greater
Manchester
and
the
West
Midlands
have
set
out
three
alternatives
to
HS2
between
Birmingham
and
Manchester,
which
was
scrapped
by
the
Prime
Minister
last
October.
Andy
Burnham
and
Andy
Street
announced
their
ideas
at
a
joint
press
conference
in
Birmingham.
They
have
been
joined
by
former
Network
Rail
chief
executive
and
HS2
chairman
Sir
David
Higgins
to
prepare
proposals
which
would
mainly
be
funded
by
the
private
sector.
They
have
formed
a
consortium
which
includes
engineers
such
as
Arup,
Skanska
and
Mace
while
they
have
also
been
able
to
brief
transport
secretary
Mark
Harper,
who
is
keeping
‘an
open
mind’.
Yesterday’s
media
event
was
staged
on
the
same
day
that
the
Commons
Public
Accounts
Committee
had
published
a
highly
critical
report
about
the
remaining
section
of
HS2
between
London
and
Birmingham,
describing
it
as
‘very
poor
value
for
money’
following
the
repeated
cutbacks.
Andy
Street
said
the
cancellation
of
HS2
Phases
2A
and
2B
to
Crewe
and
Manchester
was
a
‘tragedy’,
and
that
the
West
Coast
Main
Line
and
M6
had
no
spare
capacity,
which
meant
alternatives
were
needed.
Andy
Burnham
said
‘doing
nothing’
was
not
an
option,
because
that
would
damage
economic
growth.
He
continued:
‘The
country
won’t
be
able
to
move
in
a
timely
way
if
we
just
do
nothing,’
adding
that
relying
on
the
existing
rail
and
road
links
would
leave
the
country
with
‘a
serious
transport
headache
for
the
rest
of
this
century’.
The
options
are
to
build
a
new
railway
on
the
same
alignment
as
HS2
but
one
designed
for
a
lower
maximum
speed
to
reduce
costs,
to
upgrade
the
West
Coast
Main
Line,
or
to
add
new
WCML
sections,
effectively
bypassing
bottlenecks.
HS2
has
been
designed
for
360km/h.
Andy
Street
explained:
‘The
key
difference
is
obviously
the
question
of
speed.
A
lot
of
the
cost
in
HS2,
if
you
ask
the
design
engineers,
has
come
from
this
very
uncompromising
point
about
the
speed.
Andy
Burnham
said
it
was
‘significant’
that
ministers
had
given
permission
for
HS2
and
Network
Rail
to
be
involved
in
preparing
their
proposals.
