Why the U.K.’s High-Speed Rail Plan Was Cut in Half
Boris Johnson’s government announced that an ambitious rail initiative would be drastically trimmed, angering northern cities that were promised upgraded service and faster trains.
Eurostar passenger trains at St. Pancras rail station in London. A plan to extend high-speed service into northern England is underway, but budget cuts have eliminated some lines.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
In Manchester, some locals are mourning a train station that never was.
Back in January 2019, Transport for the North, a transit body set up by Britain’s Boris Johnson-led coalition government, announced a makeover of Northern England’s rail infrastructure, an initiative that came to be known as Northern Powerhouse Rail. The plan was designed to radically improve ailing rail service in the region, with a mix of new high-speed and conventional lines and major upgrades of existing services. For Manchester, the plan meant that the city would get a new underground railway station for a coming extension of the HS2 high-speed rail line. Built along the lines of facilities in Berlin and Antwerp, the so-called “through station” would have had trains passing through the city via tunnels, rather than backing in and out of a dead end as in a conventional terminus.