Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of completing the first phase of HS2; and what is the projected completion date.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in the Network North command paper, for the historic Phase 1 scope DfT officials have estimated a provisional range of £45 billion to £54 billion.
Given these cost assessments were made before the decision was taken to cancel Phase 2, the Department has asked HS2 Ltd to consider the revised scope of the project and provide an action plan on how it will deliver this at the lowest reasonable cost. We will be able to provide more information in due course.
Delivery remains on track for the initial high-speed services between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street by 2029 to 2033. An updated delivery-into-service range for services to Euston will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when a decision will be made on whether HS2 is going to terminate at Euston station or Old Oak Common.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The HS2 Phase One scheme, as approved by Parliament and which received Royal Assent in 2017, includes the London HS2 terminus station at Euston, along with a complimentary interchange station at Old Oak Common.
More recently, the Oakervee Review considered the use of Old Oak Common as the London terminus, but concluded that the Government should continue with the section of route from Old Oak Common to Euston, on the basis that Euston station is an important part of realising the benefits of HS2. There are no plans to change location of the London HS2 terminus station from Euston, although Old Oak Common will act as the temporary London terminus for HS2 services until Euston station is complete.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what will be (1) the top speed, and (2) the average speed, of HS2 (a) between London and Birmingham, and (b) between Birmingham and Crewe.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The top speed on both the London to West Midlands and West Midlands to Crewe sections of HS2 will be 225mph (360km/h). Once HS2 Phase 1 opens in full, HS2 trains will be able to make the 109-mile journey from London Euston to Birmingham Curzon St in 49 minutes, including stops at Old Oak Common and Birmingham Interchange. Excluding the 2 minutes that the train is stopped for passengers to board at each station, this represents an average speed of 145mph. Once HS2 Phase 2a opens, HS2 trains will be able to make the 58-mile non-stop journey from Birmingham Interchange to Crewe in 20 minutes, representing an average speed of 174mph.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government at which stations passengers will be able to board (1) between London and Birmingham, and (2) between Birmingham and Crewe, when HS2 is completed.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Phase One of HS2 will see a new high speed railway line constructed from Birmingham to London which will run on 140 miles of dedicated track. Four new HS2 passenger stations will be included on the route: London Euston, Old Oak Common (West London), Interchange in Solihull and Birmingham Curzon Street.
Phase 2a will provide 36 miles of dedicated track to Crewe. In addition, passengers will be able to board HS2 services at Stafford and Stoke, via the existing West Coast Main Line.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to delay any removal of ancient woodlands until a further assessment has been made of the viability of HS2.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no plans to delay or pause any HS2 works, including woodland removal, provided they can proceed in line with guidance from Public Health England.
The Oakervee Review recently conducted an assessment of the project and concluded that it should continue. At a time when the construction sector faces uncertainty during the coronavirus outbreak, the Government’s subsequent decision to authorise ‘Notice to Proceed’ for Phase One has provided certainty for construction companies, communities along the route, and the wider UK supply chain supporting this transformational project, which is crucial to the Government’s long-term plan to level up the country.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1571) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, (1) how many miles of smart motorways have been created to date, (2) what has been the total cost of that work, and (3) how many miles of such motorways had been planned.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The SRN has been expanding and evolving since the 1960’s, and in 2018 was 4,513 miles in length. The last 25 years has also seen conversion of parts of the motorway network to become smart motorways:
Controlled Motorway (CM) - in 1995 the first mandatory variable speed limits used on the English motorway network were introduced on the M25 J10-J15. By the end of 2018, controlled motorways covered 137 miles of the network (around 3% of the SRN) and carried 7 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 8% of total SRN traffic)
Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running (DHS) - in 2006 the first hard shoulder to be opened to traffic was put into operation on the M42 J3a-7. This pilot scheme was originally known as active traffic management. By the end of 2018, Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running motorways covered 66 miles of the network (around 1% of the SRN) and carried 3 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 3% of total SRN traffic)
All Lane Running (ALR) - in 2014 the first ALR schemes went into operation on the M25 J5-7 and J23-27. By the end of 2018, ALR motorways covered 123 miles of the network (around 3% of the SRN) and carried 5 billion vehicle miles of traffic (around 5% of total SRN traffic).
The smart motorway evidence stocktake report and action plan was published on 12 March 2020 and is available on gov.uk.
I will write to you to answer your questions 2 and 3.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1572) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, what assessment they had made of the safety of smart motorways, or similar schemes, operating in other countries before introducing them in England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Highways Agency looked at experience in the Netherlands before introducing the first smart motorway scheme with hard shoulder running - the M42 ‘Active Traffic Management’ pilot project.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1567), what data they currently hold on the number of people who have been killed on smart motorways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
England’s roads are amongst the safest in the world. Of the 1,522 fatalities on our roads in 2018, 86 were on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) motorway network, of which 19 were on the ‘smart motorway’ sections of the network. Across 2015-2018 there were on average 1,507 fatalities per year. Of these, 87 were on the SRN motorway network including 11 on the 'smart motorway' sections.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1568), why they will not name the minister or official who made the decision to build smart motorways in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The term ‘Smart Motorways’ describes a set of motorway designs, comprising Controlled Motorways, Dynamic Hard Shoulder Running and All Lane Running. Since 1995, these have been progressively introduced to the strategic road network under the tenure of a number of different ministers and officials.
Asked by: Lord Framlingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 24 February (HL1569) and prior to their decision to conduct “an evidence stocktake to gather the facts about the safety of smart motorways”, what assessment they gave to the reintroduction of hard shoulders on smart motorways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Smart motorways increase capacity by around a third and help tackle congestion on some of our most busy roads. They help people get from A to B as well as keep our freight moving. They enable us to increase capacity while minimising the amount of additional land required. This has environmental benefits and it means that capacity can be added more quickly.
It is worth noting that the hard shoulder on a traditional motorway is not a safe place to stop. One in 12 fatalities on a motorway happens on the hard shoulder.