Boris Johnson has pledged to build a £39bn fast rail line spanning northern England as he sought to build support ahead of a possible general election.
The new prime minister visited Manchester on Saturday to announce his backing for the Northern Powerhouse Rail project, starting with a new line between Manchester and Leeds.
However, those planning the new network, which plans to enhance rail links between some of the biggest northern cities, warned that the prime minister’s wish to review the controversial north-south HS2 line could delay or even derail the project.
There is increased speculation that the HS2 project will be cancelled following the FT’s revelation last week that an internal review had shown costs were expected to spiral by £30bn, taking the total from £56bn to £85bn.
Mr Johnson on Friday appointed Andrew Gilligan, a critic of HS2, as his new transport adviser. The Sunday Times reporter and a former cycling tsar in Mr Johnson’s London mayoralty, has called HS2 a “disastrous scheme”. He does, however, support a slower, cheaper line.
Barry White, chief executive of Transport for the North, the body designing the line, told the FT that it has relied on HS2 to provide several sections.
“If we do not have HS2 we would have to revisit our plans and change the design. HS2 is an integral part.”
Manchester’s Piccadilly station, for example, was to be rebuilt for use by HS2 and NPR trains.
NPR also envisages improved connections from Liverpool to Hull and Newcastle with faster and more frequent trains to knit their economies closer together.
Mr Johnson said on Saturday: “Leeds to Manchester is just the beginning. We will take it all the way. This is a fantastic scheme we want to progress as soon as possible.”
He promised that it would be assessed in the autumn once TfN submitted its full plans.
That will please leaders in Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle who want the whole network to be completed, fearing that building just the Leeds-Manchester section could give those cities an economic advantage.
There are still details for Mr Johnson to resolve. TfN wants the line to go through central Bradford, which costs an extra £1bn. But he could approve a cheaper out-of-town station instead.
Mr Johnson spoke at the Science and Industry Museum Manchester, where former chancellor George Osborne launched his Northern Powerhouse plan to invest in the region five years ago.
The new prime minister accepted that previous Conservative governments had not delivered on their pledges to the region in the past.
Mr Johnson also said he supported having London-style bus services everywhere. The capital was the only place allowed to regulate buses after 1985 and in the last 25 years passenger journeys have almost doubled, he said. Elsewhere, where private bus companies determine schedules and prices, the number of journeys has fallen 34 per cent.
He backed plans by Greater Manchester metro mayor Andy Burnham to introduce a London-style franchise system for bus routes, under a 2017 law.
Rachael Maskell, shadow transport minister, said Labour had already agreed to fund the entire NPR network.
“This is sadly once again another Tory prime minister coming to the north with nothing new. There is no timeline, no linking of northern towns, just more vague promise of a skeleton line,” said Ms Maskell.
Mr Johnson also said he would support greater devolution in England. The Brexit vote was not just about Brussels but “a vote against London too”, he said.
He also boosted the previously announced Stronger Towns Fund. It would invest £3.6bn in 100 towns, up from £1.6bn pledged by his predecessor Theresa May.
Dan Jarvis, Labour metro mayor of Sheffield city region, welcomed the announcements but said: “We now need to see action, not just words.”
Additional reporting by Gill Plimmer in London and Chris Tighe in Newcastle
