Andy Burnham’s Push to Revive HS2’s Northern Leg Faces Financial and Functional Hurdles

Mayor Andy Burnham has pledged to reinstate the scrapped Phase 2 of the High-Speed 2 (HS2) programme – the 89-mile stretch from the West Midlands to the North West, including the “Golborne link” that would join the West Coast Main Line at Bamfurlong and serve Preston and Scotland. Burnham argues the extension could be funded through “contributions from business and residents” and by capturing “the increase in land values created by the [new] infrastructure… to pay back the cost.”

iNewsBurnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

Phase 1, linking London to the Midlands, now costs between £626 million and £734 million per mile. Because Phase 2 involves less tunnelling (?17 % versus 23 % in Phase 1), analysts expect a modest cost reduction, but the total price tag remains steep – up to £65 billion for the northern extension. Burnham previously floated an “HS2 Lite” concept operating at 185 mph rather than 250 mph, claiming a 40 % saving, though the route alignment and earthworks would remain unchanged.

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• Cost per mile (Phase 1): £626 m–£734 m.

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• Projected Phase 2 total: up to £65 billion.

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• Land-value-capture model: Burnham cites London’s Elizabeth Line, where local levies covered ~£4.7 billion, but LSE Professor Tony Travers warns northern economies lack the scale to generate comparable revenue.

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

• Additional Manchester underground station: estimated at £5 billion, raising the combined HS2 + Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) bill toward £80 billion.

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University of Liverpool Professor Ian Wray, who originally proposed NPR, says HS2 and NPR are “projects looking for a plan,” “conceived, designed and delivered in isolation,” and “likely to fail to achieve their objectives.” He and engineer Trevor Parkin argue the North’s rail bottleneck lies at central Manchester’s “nodes,” where converging lines cause regional gridlock. HS2 and NPR would divert only about 25 % of traffic from these congested lines, whereas a short, high-capacity tunnel linking the existing tracks could double capacity at a fraction of the cost.

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• Burnham’s funding proposal relies on land-value capture and business contributions.

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• Professor Tony Travers, chair of an LSE commission on infrastructure funding, notes that “no way any other part of the country could do anything like [London]… Their economies are just not big enough to bear it.”

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• Burnham’s earlier promise to cut business taxes was noted as unfulfilled, suggesting limited appetite for new levies.

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• Transport commentator Gareth Dennis dismissed “HS2 Lite” as “technically illiterate.”

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

• Professor Ian Wray and Trevor Parkin contend that node upgrades, not high-speed intercity lines, are the priority for the North.

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• Economic geographers echo Travers’s view that land-value capture would “suffocate local commercial investment” in places like Wigan or Preston.

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• Cost per mile varies widely (£626 m–£734 m), creating uncertainty about the final Phase 2 figure.

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• No official government response to Burnham’s proposal appears in the sources, leaving the feasibility of the funding model unverified.

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

• Detailed engineering plans for the suggested Manchester tunnel are absent, limiting assessment of the “fraction of the price” claim.

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

• “a cleverer way of funding” Phase 2 through “contributions from business and residents” or “the increase in land values created by the [new] infrastructure… captured to pay back the cost.” — Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

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• “But now, he says, HS2 and NPR are “projects looking for a plan”, “conceived, designed and delivered in isolation” and “likely to fail to achieve their objectives”.” — Professor Ian Wray, University of Liverpool

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• “It would give Burnham his underground station at Piccadilly, it would link to most of the Northern network rather than a handful of places on a high-speed line, and it would cost a fraction of the price,” — Professor Ian Wray

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• “However, independent rail analysts, including transport commentator Gareth Dennis, have dismissed the concept as technically illiterate.” — Gareth Dennis, transport commentator

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

• “Every week and every pound we waste on unaffordable high-speed schemes that will never happen is time and money not spent on things which can actually be delivered,” — Trevor Parkin, engineer

Burnham’s HS2 Promise is Dead on Arrival: The Real Blueprint to Fix Britain’s Railways

No specific future hearings, votes, or funding timelines are mentioned in the available material, leaving the prospect of a revived Phase 2 uncertain.

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