High Speed 2 is a new high-speed railway line in England. It was originally planned to connect London with the city centres of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

directly on new high speed track.

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

was also to have been served. Phase 2 was planned for completion in 2032–33, however it was finally cancelled on 4 October 2023. Phase two was split into two sub-phases: * Phase 2a: the section from Birmingham to Crewe, which was to be built simultaneously with phase 1, effectively merging with phase 1 * Phase 2b: the eastern leg of phase 2 which was scrapped in 2021. 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 was 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 was phase 2a, which was proposed to be built before phase 2b, simultaneously with phase 1. HS2 was to pass through

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

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

Crewe railway station Crewe railway station serves the railway town of Crewe, in Cheshire, England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world. However, the HS2 line was to be linked to the West Coast Main Line via a grade-separated junction 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 was 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 was to be sited to the south of the current Crewe station. The intention was 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 was 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 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...

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

M56 motorway The M56 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 Chester. With a length of , it connects North Wales ...

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 station, Manchester Piccadilly, ...

. 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 Airports Group Limited, known as MAG is a British airport operator which owns three British airports: Manchester Airport, East Midlands Airport, and Stansted Airport. The Group operates under Manchester Airports Holdings Limited, ...

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

Manchester city centre (phase 2b)

The route was to continue from the airport into

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

via a bored tunnel under the dense urban districts of south Manchester before surfacing at Ardwick. The tunnel was to be the longest rail tunnel to be built in the United Kingdom, surpassing the High Speed 1 tunnel completed in 2004. It was anticipated that the stretch from Rostherne in Cheshire to Ardwick would take up to 7 years to construct. The 7.6 mile twin-bore tunnel would have been 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 was envisaged both tunnels would 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, North West England, a mile from Manchester city centre, and was developed on former industri ...

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 Deansgate is a railway station in Manchester city centre, England; it is located west of Manchester Piccadilly, close to Castlefield at the junction of Deansgate and Whitworth Street West. It is part of the Manchester station group. It is lin ...

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 main railway station of the city of Manchester, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Opened originally as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchest ...

, 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 a major river 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 h ...

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 would have terminated at an upgraded

. At least four new platforms would have been built to accommodate the new high-speed trains in addition to the two platforms which were 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 bottlene ...

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

Current status

On 4 October 2023, all of HS2 Phase 2 was axed by Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

. There is currently a pending review for its revival to Manchester.

Birmingham to Leeds (phase 2b)

A new station in the East Midlands was proposed, which may have been a

parkway station A parkway railway station is a railway station that primarily serves a park and ride interchange rather than a town or city centre. The name parkway originally referred to being built next to the M32 motorway, which was built through parkland an ...

,In British usage, a parkway station is one with car parking, remote from the location it is intended to serve to serve

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. The Derbyshire and Nottingham Chamber 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 Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from to and . It is also the clos ...

was recently constructed on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

south of Derby and Nottingham. HS2 would have continued 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, and the second busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber, after Leed ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

(serving

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and surrounding large towns), terminating in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

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 located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Ro ...

Toton Sidings (phase 2b)

Chesterfield (phase 2b)

Sheffield Midland (phase 2b)

Leeds (phase 2b)

HS2 would have reduced the average journey time from central Leeds to London from 2 hours 20 minutes to 1 hour 28 minutes.

References

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