High Speed 2 HS2 is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since The line's planned route is between Handsacre , in southern Staffordshire , and London, with a branch to Birmingham. London and Birmingham are to be served directly by new high-speed track. The majority of the project is planned to be completed by The length of the planned new line has been reduced substantially since the first announcement in The scheme was originally to split into eastern and western branches north of Birmingham Interchange.
The western branch would have had connections to the West Coast Main Line at Crewe and south of Wigan, branching to a terminus in Manchester. Between November and October the project was progressively cut until only the London to Handsacre and Birmingham section remained.
The project has both supporters and opponents. Supporters of HS2 believe that the additional capacity provided will accommodate passenger numbers rising to pre- COVID levels while driving a further modal shift to rail. Opponents believe that the project is neither environmentally nor financially sustainable. In December , following a review by the Conservative—Liberal Democrat coalition , [ 4 ] a route was proposed, subject to public consultation, [ 5 ] [ 6 ] based on a Y-shaped route from London to Birmingham with branches to Leeds and Manchester , as originally put forward by the previous Labour government, [ 7 ] with alterations designed to minimise the visual, noise, and other environmental impacts of the line.
In January , the Secretary of State for Transport announced that HS2 would go ahead in two phases and the legislative process would be achieved through two hybrid bills. One of the stated aims of the project is to increase the capacity of the railway network.
It is envisaged that the introduction of HS2 will free up space on existing railway lines by removing a number of express services, thus allowing additional local train services to accommodate increased passenger numbers. On 21 August , the DfT ordered an independent review of the project. The review was chaired by Douglas Oakervee , a British civil engineer , who had been HS2's non-executive chairman for nearly two years.
