On track: high-speed rail to reach North in 2020s

A high-speed rail line from London must run to the North and not end at Birmingham, the man in charge told MPs yesterday.

Sir David Rowlands said it made no economic sense to build a 225mph line ending in the Midlands — the only commitment made so far by the department for transport (Dft).

Instead, he revealed, his report will include options to take the line to Manchester — cutting journey time to the capital to one hour 20 minutes — and all the way to Glasgow.

Crucially, the report will also put forward the benefits of improved “regional inter-connectivity” to London and Scotland, rather than simply basing a case on the likely number of passengers and the cost.

If, it concludes, the economies of the northern regions would receive a big boost to investment and jobs, that would pile pressure on the Government to build the line — even if the headline cost was expensive.

The decision means Sir David, the chairman of High Speed Two, the company set up to examine the case for super-fast lines, has effectively ripped up his original remit of 'London to Birmingham first'.

He told the Commons transport committee: “If all the Government wanted to do was build a high-speed rail to the West Midlands and no further, then that’s not a very sensible thing to do.”

Instead, Sir David told the MPs of the “clear potential for a high-speed network” and described what it must offer to tempt air passengers from the North to go by train.

The key factors would be a link to Heathrow Airport and an ability for baggage to be automatically transferred to onward flights.

Sir David also spoke of his confidence that his proposals would survive a change of Government — the Tories have already backed a high-speed line to link London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

However, the former top civil servant at the Dft admitted he would have to find a cheaper option than High Speed One — £5.8bn for just 68 miles to the Channel Tunnel — saying: “It was too expensive.”

The report, which will be presented to Transport Minister Lord Adonis by December, will outline options for a single line through Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, or twin lines up the west and east coasts.

The line would be built to Birmingham in as little as 12 years, but not reach the North until later in the 2020s.