Consultation begins on the London to Birmingham line next year The government will back plans for high-speed rail links to Manchester and Leeds, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has said.
The planned new 250mph rail route between London and Birmingham aims to cut journey time to 49 minutes.
North of Birmingham, ministers prefer plans for two lines – one to Manchester and one via the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.
Mr Hammond said plans would “transform the economy” in north-east England.
In his speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Mr Hammond said consultation would begin in the New Year on the preferred route of the London to Birmingham leg of the rail network – the government has already set up a compensation scheme for homeowners and businesses whose properties are affected.
But he announced that ministers’ preferred option for the link north of Birmingham would be for two separate corridors.
One would go direct to Manchester, which would connect to the west coast mainline, and the other via the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, with stations in both areas, which would connect to the east coast mainline north of Leeds.
The so-called “y-option” will be the government’s preferred option over an s-shaped line crossing the Pennines.
Mr Hammond said the scheme – estimated to cost £33bn – would “make rail the mode of choice for most inter-city journeys within the UK, and for many beyond” and would change “the economic and social geography of Britain, connecting our great population centres and our international gateways together”.
He said it would help “rebalance economies” that the government believed had become too dependent on the public sector – by encouraging business investment in regions which have been considered too far away from London.
“By creating a smaller Britain, where literally journey times from Leeds to London will be about 80 minutes, we change the geography, we change the way people think and we change the opportunities that are available.”
He added: “This great connectivity is fantastic news for the North East and other regions and will transform the economy, I have no doubt about that at all.
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