Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: Coast Main Line at Handsacre was likely to be required, and £500m was provided for these works.

Found: Coast Main Line.

Found: particularly suggested that Network Rail is currently upgrading some of the infrastructure on parts of the west

Found: We are currently trialling that on the north end of the west coast main line.

Found: We are currently trialling that on the north end of the west coast main line.

Found: Junction During the session I had exchanges with yourself and Mr Brereton about the junction to the West

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15333 on High Speed 2 Line, what assumptions were made on the potential services that could run north of Birmingham to provide the evidential basis for the statement that the new plan for HS2 will result in nearly doubling capacity up to 250,000 seats per day across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and Phase 1.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department is currently working on the requirement to develop a new train service specification for HS2 and West Coast Mainline services following the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement. The Department has committed to publish the Phase 1 Updated Business Case which will be based on an indicative train service specification and associated capacity in 2024.

Any train service included in the business case will be indicative for modelling and planning purposes. Decisions on the train service that will run when HS2 is operational will made in due course and be subject to consultation.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the value engineering report for the design of the proposed Handsacre Junction of HS2.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

There have been no value engineering reports on Handsacre junction since Network North. Previous decisions to change the design of Handsacre junction were made to reduce costs and disruption for passengers on the West Coast Main Line during construction, which was value for money given the previous plan to deliver Phase 2a on an accelerated timeframe would have resulted in the use of the junction for more than 1 train per hour in each direction only for a very short period.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 24 of his Department's publication entitled Network North: transforming British transport, CP 946, published on 4 October 2023, what the evidential basis is for the statement that the new plan for HS2 will result in nearly doubling capacity up to 250,000 seats per day across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and Phase 1.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The estimated increased seat capacity across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and HS2 set out in the Network North publication was based on illustrative assumptions about the potential services that could run across existing and new infrastructure once HS2 Phase 1 is brought into service.

This assumed 3 HS2 trains per hour running between London and Birmingham with additional capacity at peak hours, and assumptions on potential services which could run north of Birmingham. The latter are now being further refined through work with industry partners.

No final decisions have been made on the train service that will run when HS2 opens. These will be made in due course and be subject to consultation, taking advice from the industry. These considerations will include passenger and freight services available on the West Coast Main Line from released capacity.

Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: • framing and containment by wooded scarp slopes ; • arterial transport corridor, including west

Found: November 2022, a passenger train travelling at 125 mph (201 km/h) narrowly missed a track worker on the West

Found: involved in a near miss with a track worker on the Up Fast line close to Euxton Junction located on the West

Found: first phase of HS2, between London and Birmingham, including construction of the Handsacre Link to the West