HS3 - Don't Dilly Dally on the Way

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18 March 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970

Chancellor George Osborne was keen to go out of his way to put forward HS3 as a key part of his Northern Powerhouse scheme in his Budget. However, the National Infrastructure Commission and a chorus of doubters will only believe in the project when they see it.

No definite figure has been given by the DfT for this although £70 billion has been tossed into the arena as a reasonable guess. Few would contest the desperate need for the improved connection and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted it should be built before Crossrail 2. The National Infrastructure Commission in its third report – High Speed North – said the area ‘needs immediate and very significant investment for action now and a plan for longer term transformation to reduce journey times, increase capacity and improve reliability.’

The report states that for rail it meant ‘kick-starting HS3, integrating it with HS2 and planning for the redevelopment of the North’s gateway stations’.

For roads investment should be brought forwards for an early boost in capacity on the M62, the North’s most important east-west link, alongside funding to identify and assess proposals for tackling a range of other strategic challenges.

The problem for infrastructure projects like this is that the UK is prone to dither while other countries have not held back. With Crossrail 1, John Major’s government cancelled the original project in the 1990s , resulting in steadily worsening rail and road conditions in the South East and a much bigger bill to pay now.

For HS2 and HS3 the same comments are being levelled at the government. “George Osborne needs to find out how to speed the process up and make it simpler so these improvements happen quicker,” insisted Chris Hyomes, Chair of pressure group Railfuture in Yorkshire. “We're looking at improving roads and railways but by the time they are improved they are going to be outdated and overcrowded again. What we're going to do in 5-10 years' time should have been done 10 or 20 years ago.”

The Treasury has been quick to counterattack and rebuff the criticisms. "The Chancellor is determined to shake Britain out of its inertia in building vital infrastructure and his Budget has backed projects like HS3 to make this country fit for the future,” declared a Treasury spokesman. "Investing in transport across the Northern Powerhouse has been identified as a priority and that's why he will invest £300 million in transport across the region, giving the green light to HS3, accelerating the M62 to a four-lane smart motorway and developing plans to transform East to West connections across the North, including a new Trans Pennine tunnel between Sheffield and Manchester."

Picture: The HS3 train now standing – Chancellor Osborne’s statement on backing HS3 was received sceptically by many this week with these routes published as long ago as 2014 

Article written by Mike Gannon | Published 18 March 2016

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