High Speed Three gets green light
30 October 2014GREAT BRITAIN - The Prime Minister and Chancellor for the Exchequer approved the UK’s High Speed Three (HS3) rail project earlier this week. The route will run east to west across the north of England, connecting the cities of Leeds and Manchester.
The ministers were responding to a report by David Higgins, who was asked by the Chancellor how to address poor east-west links in the north, and how to maximise the benefits of HS2. Higgins' also endorsed the two proposed routes for Phase Two of HS2, joining the London-Birmingham route with spur routes to Manchester and Leeds.
The government, working with Transport for the North (a new, unified transport body for the country's north), will now produce a comprehensive transport strategy for the region. This will include options, costs and a delivery timetable for a HS3 east west rail connection. An interim report will be produced in March 2015.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "Our northern cities are on the brink of an economic transformation and [the] report underlines how we can secure this by bringing those cities together to maximise the benefits of good transport links."
