Found: collaboration with Network Rail and its contractor VolkerRail , to implement line speed improvements on the West

Found: Phase Two of HS2 will extend the line to the north- west: to Manchester with connections to the West

Found: A project to upgrade the West Coast Main Line, including a number of IECCs linked together so that

Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: Coast Main Line at Handsacre was likely to be required, and £500m was provided for these works.

Found: Coast Main Line.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 February 2024 to Question 15333 on High Speed 2 Line, what assumptions were made on the potential services that could run north of Birmingham to provide the evidential basis for the statement that the new plan for HS2 will result in nearly doubling capacity up to 250,000 seats per day across the primary long-distance operator on the West Coast Main Line and Phase 1.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Department is currently working on the requirement to develop a new train service specification for HS2 and West Coast Mainline services following the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement. The Department has committed to publish the Phase 1 Updated Business Case which will be based on an indicative train service specification and associated capacity in 2024.

Any train service included in the business case will be indicative for modelling and planning purposes. Decisions on the train service that will run when HS2 is operational will made in due course and be subject to consultation.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the value engineering report for the design of the proposed Handsacre Junction of HS2.

Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

There have been no value engineering reports on Handsacre junction since Network North. Previous decisions to change the design of Handsacre junction were made to reduce costs and disruption for passengers on the West Coast Main Line during construction, which was value for money given the previous plan to deliver Phase 2a on an accelerated timeframe would have resulted in the use of the junction for more than 1 train per hour in each direction only for a very short period.

Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: working through options to enhance the railway junction between HS2 infrastructure and the existing West

Found: • framing and containment by wooded scarp slopes ; • arterial transport corridor, including west

Found: November 2022, a passenger train travelling at 125 mph (201 km/h) narrowly missed a track worker on the West

Found: involved in a near miss with a track worker on the Up Fast line close to Euxton Junction located on the West