Recommendation 16

HM Government Acknowledged

The Government notes this recommendation and has continued to engage with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Manchester City Council (MCC). An underground station would significantly add to the cost of the Crewe to Manchester scheme and delay the opening of the Western Leg into Manchester by between seven and 13 years, which would be likely to result in some knock-on impacts to the start of new NPR services. The Government has not seen any evidence to indicate that an underground option would unlock enough land value to justify the increased cost of such a station. The Government and HS2 Ltd have engaged extensively with Greater Manchester stakeholders – including Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), MCC and TfGM - to listen to their case for an underground station at Piccadilly, as well as with Transport for the North. Throughout these discussions HS2 Ltd has undertaken extensive investigations to explore the feasibility of the various underground station design options proposed by stakeholders. The then Minister for HS2 agreed to undertake a further study into an underground station in the interests of transparency. Detailed design work was subsequently carried out for the ‘Manchester Piccadilly High Speed Station – Design of an Alternative Underground Station report’, which was published on the HS2 Ltd website on 27 June 2022 and placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. This report was the culmination of work begun in 2010 to find the best solution and location for a high speed station in central Manchester. The study went beyond the original scope, analysing three underground options, rather than one option to ensure a like-for-like comparison between underground station alternatives and the chosen surface station option. The analysis concluded that, when compared to a surface station design, an underground station would: • cause major city centre disruption during the construction period; • present a very serious and unprecedented construction challenge given the underlying geology and the huge scale of cavern construction required to create the underground station; • significantly delay the opening of the Western Leg into Manchester by between seven and 13 years; and • add around £5 billion (2015 prices) to the cost of the Crewe to Manchester scheme. The Government continues to believe that a combined surface station is best placed to meet the needs of both HS2 and NPR services. The Government believes that the surface station design will deliver opportunities and growth for Manchester at a lower cost and construction impact than the underground alternatives investigated in the study. Petitions against the surface station design are being considered by the Select Committee scrutinising the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill. The Government fully engaged MCC, TfGM and TfN at every stage of the study from developing the scope of the work to selecting the three underground options they considered represented the best alternative underground designs. The Government and HS2 Ltd’s conclusion is that further optimisation of the underground options is unlikely to change the decision that a surface station is the appropriate design solution on the grounds of construction feasibility, health and safety, cost and delivery in service dates. A high- speed surface station at Manchester Piccadilly as set out in the High Speed Rail (Crewe- Manchester) Bill and the IRP remains the baseline assumption for future interventions, for example, as outlined in the terms of reference for the HS2 to Leeds Study. Officials continue to meet regularly with Greater Manchester partners to discuss technical matters related to the scheme and to explore opportunities to work across Government to realise economic benefits to support local and regional growth.