HS2 Phase 2b: Western Leg
The Western leg goes from Crewe to Manchester, connecting to the West Coast Main Line south of Wigan.
An artists impression of Crewe Railway Station entrance from Weston Road.
Following the conclusion of the Oakervee Review into HS2, the government has decided to proceed with legislation for the Western Leg of Phase 2b as a priority. As such, we intend to submit a hybrid Bill for the Western Leg in early 2022 or sooner if possible.
We have published updated plans for the Western Leg, which also show the work we need to carry out to the existing rail network to enable HS2 trains to serve stations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Wigan, Preston and Carlisle.
These changes are a result of ongoing design development and feedback received during previous consultations and engagement with stakeholders and communities. They are described in more detail here.
In addition, factsheets have been produced to provide information on the emerging proposals for measures to manage the design process for Phase 2b and to control impacts which may arise from the construction and operation of the new railway. These factsheets can be found here.
Consultations
2020 Western Leg Design Refinement Consultation
On 7th October 2020 the Minister of State for Transport announced a consultation on the following four proposed changes to the design of the Western Leg of HS2 Phase 2b:
The proposed changes for consultation are:
- the addition of Crewe Northern Connection and changes to the design of Crewe North Rolling Stock Depot;
- changes to the design of Manchester Airport High Speed station;
- changes to the design around Manchester Piccadilly High Speed station; and
- the introduction of a new train stabling facility at Annandale, in Dumfries and Galloway.
The consultation closed on 11 December 2020. You can find out more about it here.
2019 Design Refinement Consultation
Between 6 June and 6 September 2019 the Secretary of State for Transport consulted on 11 proposed refinements to the HS2 Phase 2b proposals.
In October 2020 the Minister of State for Transport, having considered the responses received, published his decision on whether to include the refinements proposed for the Western Leg. This can be found here.
Safeguarding
In order to ensure that land needed for HS2 is protected from conflicting development, safeguarding for the Western Leg of Phase 2b was updated in October 2020. More information about this can be found in the HS2 safeguarding section on gov.uk.