High Speed 2 is a planned new high-speed railway line connecting London with the city centres of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

directly on new high speed track.

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () ...

will also be served. The railway is to be delivered in two phases: * Phase 1: linking London and Birmingham. * Phase 2: linking Birmingham with Manchester and Leeds. Phase 2 is planned for completion in 2032–33. Phase two is split into two sub-phases: * Phase 2a: the section from Birmingham to Crewe, which is to be built simultaneously with phase 1, effectively merging with phase 1. * Phase 2b: the remainder of phase 2. The concept of HS2 was that all major cities covered would have a city centre HS2 station. Liverpool, along with London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, was envisaged to have a city centre HS2 station. The scheme was cut down to only three provincial city centres served directly by HS2, two being on phase 2. The preliminary route for Phase Two was announced on 28 January 2013. It is envisaged construction on Phase Two will start in 2022 with completion by 2032.

Birmingham to Manchester (phases 2a & 2b)

Birmingham to Crewe (phase 2a)

Birmingham to Crewe is phase 2a, which is proposed to be built before phase 2b, simultaneously with phase 1. HS2 will pass through

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

and Cheshire, in a tunnel under Crewe station but not stopping at

Crewe railway station Crewe railway station is a railway station in Crewe, Cheshire, England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world. However, the HS2 line will be linked to the West Coast Main Line via a

grade-separated junction A grade-separated junction is a transport junction where at least one bridge or tunnel is used to separate traffic flows (known as grade separation). Relevant articles include: * Road interchanges Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interch ...

just south of Crewe, enabling "classic compatible" trains exiting the high-speed line to call at the existing Crewe station.

High-speed Crewe hub (phase 2a)

In 2014 David Higgins, who was then chairman of High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, proposed an addition to phase two: a high-speed hub at Crewe to take advantage of, and have access to, the six classic lines radiating from the existing Crewe junction. Many more regions and cities would have overall superior journey times being accessed with a combination of HS2 and classic lines. The hub is a part of phase two, but Higgins proposed the hub and line from Birmingham to Crewe (phase 2a) should be constructed simultaneously with phase one. Crewe is a major rail junction with six radiating classic lines from the junction to Scotland/Liverpool, Birmingham/London, Chester, Shrewsbury, Stoke and Manchester. The high-speed hub is to be sited to the south of the current Crewe station. The intention is for high-speed trains to run off the northbound HS2 line into the high-speed hub and out onto a number of classic lines without passing through the bottleneck of the existing Crewe station, keeping line speeds as fast as possible. A new high-speed rail station is proposed as a part of the hub. On 17 July 2017, this was approved by the government.

Manchester Airport (phase 2b)

A station is planned to serve

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...

on the southern boundary of Manchester. It will be located next to Junction 5 of the

M56 motorway The M56 motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, serves the Cheshire and Greater Manchester areas of England. It runs east to west from junction 4 of the M60 at Gatley, south of Manchester, to Dunkirk, approximately north of Ches ...

on the northern side of the airport and approximately north-west of

Manchester Airport railway station Manchester Airport station is a railway, tram, bus and coach station at Manchester Airport, England which opened at the same time as the second air terminal in 1993. The station is south of Manchester Piccadilly, at the end of a short branch f ...

. The two stations are not connected. An airport station was recommended by local authorities during the consultation stage. The government agreed in January 2013 for an airport station but agreed only on the basis that private investment was involved, such as funding from the

Manchester Airports Group Manchester Airport Holdings Limited, trading as MAG (originally Manchester Airports Group) is a holding company which is owned by the ten metropolitan borough councils of Greater Manchester, in North West England, and Australian investment fu ...

to build the station. The average journey from London Euston to Manchester Airport would be 59 minutes.

Manchester city centre (phase 2b)

The route will continue from the airport into

Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...

via a bored tunnel under the dense urban districts of south Manchester before surfacing at Ardwick. The tunnel will be the longest rail tunnel to be built in the United Kingdom, surpassing the High Speed 1 tunnel completed in 2004. It is anticipated that the stretch from Rostherne in Cheshire to Ardwick will take up to 7 years to construct. The 7.6 mile twin-bore tunnel will be at an average depth of 33 metres and trains will travel at through the tunnel. The diameter size of the tunnel is dependent on the train speed and length of the tunnel. It is envisaged both tunnels will be, as an 'absolute minimum', at least 7.25 metres in diameter to accommodate the high speed trains. Up to fifteen sites were put forward including

Sportcity Sportcity in Manchester is a multipurpose sports and leisure facility. Originally built to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, it is in east Manchester, a mile from Manchester city centre, and was developed on former industrial land including th ...

Pomona Island Pomona Island is the largest island within Lake Manapouri, in Fiordland National Park, in New Zealand's South Island. With an area of , it is the largest island to be found within any New Zealand lake. The island is uninhabited, and lies close ...

, expanding Deansgate railway station and re-configuring the disused grade-II listed Manchester Central terminal station building back into a station. Three final sites made the long list:

Manchester Piccadilly station Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester cit ...

, Salford Central station and a newly built station at Salford Middlewood Locks. Three approaches were considered, one via the M62, one via the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

and the other through south Manchester. Both

and Salford City Council recommended routing High Speed 2 to Manchester Piccadilly to maximise economic potential and connectivity rather than building a new station at a greater cost and which could be isolated from existing transport links. HS2 trains will terminate at an upgraded

. At least four new platforms will be built to accommodate the new high-speed trains in addition to the two platforms which are currently planned as part of the

Northern Hub The Northern Hub was a rail upgrade programme between 2009 and 2020 in Northern England to improve and increase train services and reduce journey times between its major cities and towns, by electrifying lines and removing a major rail bottlenec ...

proposal. It is envisaged Platform 1 under the existing listed train shed will also be converted to a fifth HS2 platform to reduce cost. However at 242 metres long, it is the shortest platform at the station and falls short of the 400 metre platform required to accommodate High Speed trains. The HS2 concourse will be connected to the existing concourse at Piccadilly. HS2 will reduce the average journey time from central Manchester to central London from 2 hours 8 minutes to 1 hour 8 minutes.

Current status

Following the conclusion of the Oakervee Review, the government decided to proceed with legislation for the Western Leg of Phase 2b as a priority. As such, HS2 Ltd said in June 2021 that they intend to submit a hybrid bill before Parliament for the Western Leg in early 2022, or sooner if possible.

Birmingham to Leeds (phase 2b)

A new station in the East Midlands is proposed, which may be a parkway station,In British usage, a parkway station is one with car parking, remote from the location it is intended to serve to serve

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and Leicester. The Derbyshire and Nottingham

Chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations * Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics * Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...

supported high-speed rail going to the East Midlands but was concerned that a parkway station instead of centrally located city stations would result in no overall net benefit in journey times to existing services.

East Midlands Parkway railway station East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

was recently constructed on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

south of Derby and Nottingham. HS2 would continue north to a station at

Sheffield railway station Sheffield station, formerly ''Pond Street'' and later ''Sheffield Midland'', is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam Unive ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

(serving

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

and surrounding large towns), terminating in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

Leeds railway station Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City railway station) is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth-busiest railway station in the UK outside London (as of March 2020). I ...

Toton Sidings (phase 2b)

Chesterfield (phase 2b)

Sheffield Midland (phase 2b)

Leeds (phase 2b)

HS2 will reduce the average journey time from central Leeds to London from 2 hours 20 minutes to 1 hour 28 minutes.

Current status

The government made clear in its response to the Oakervee Review its commitment to Phase 2b of HS2. As part of this, the government plans to present an Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands by the end of 2020, informed by an assessment from the National Infrastructure Commission, which will look at how to deliver the Eastern Leg of Phase 2b,

Northern Powerhouse Rail Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is a proposed major rail programme designed to substantially enhance the economic potential of the North of England. The phrase was adopted in 2014 for a project ...

East Midlands Hub East Midlands Hub was a planned new railway station on the Leeds Branch of High Speed 2. It was intended to be located on the existing railway sidings in Toton, situated between Nottingham and Derby. The station would have been located adjace ...

and other rail programmes better and more effectively. As such, work on the Eastern Leg of Phase 2b has been paused. In October 2021,

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

reported that the government planned to scale back the eastern leg and use existing track for around between Clayton on South/West Yorkshire border and the

. The new platforms at Leeds would be retained but the planned East Midlands Hub station would not be built.

Integrated Rail Plan (IRP)

On the 18 November 2021, the UK government published the

Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands or more simply, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent ser ...

which substantially affected the eastern portion of HS Phase Two.

References

;Notes {{Current rail infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom High Speed 2 Proposed railway lines in England