The mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands have joined forces on alternative and cheaper plans for the scrapped section of HS2, warning that “to do nothing is not an option”.
Andy Burnham and Andy Street have created a consortium chaired by Sir David Higgins, a former chair of HS2, which involves private engineering and finance companies including Arup, EY, Skanska and Mace.
One option revealed on Wednesday is to build a segregated rail line such as the one planned for HS2 but with lower maximum speeds, reducing costs. The completely new line option would be roughly the same line as the scrapped HS2 section, Street said.
