Second Additional Provision to the High Speed Rail (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill

I would like to inform the House about the introduction of a second additional provision to the High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee.

As part of this Government’s industrial strategy we are investing in High Speed 2, a transformational infrastructure project that will improve people’s journeys, create jobs, generate economic growth and help to rebalance our country’s economy. HS2 is more than a railway and the project’s vision is to be a catalyst for economic growth. It has cross-party support and support from councils, local enterprise partnerships, metro Mayors and businesses who can see the transformational potential.

HS2 is making progress and the benefits are already being seen in towns and cities in advance of HS2 services. Around 2,000 businesses have been awarded HS2 contracts and over 7,000 jobs have been supported, a figure that will increase to around 30,000 at peak.

The additional provision proposes a number of changes to the powers in the Bill for the Select Committee’s consideration. These changes have arisen as a result of requests from petitioners, directions from the Select Committee currently considering the Bill, and further design development, principally in relation to utility works. Those directly and specially affected by these changes may petition against them, and once any petitioners have been heard, the Committee will decide whether the amendments to the Bill should be made. The main changes in the additional provision are as follows:

The lowering of the viaduct at Kings Bromley which reduces environmental effects such as visual impact;

a revised and more simple Handsacre junction layout, where phase one connects to the west coast main line;

a new traction power connection, requiring over 7 km of high voltage electricity lines, from the HS2 line at Newlands Lane to the east of the route. This change ensures the necessary resilience and redundancy required for traction power on a high-speed railway;

temporary and permanent power supply routes to the Whitmore and Madeley tunnels, to support the operation of the tunnel boring machines during construction and later, the operation of the tunnels;

a southward extension of the southern end of the tunnel at Whitmore, to avoid the need for complex surface works where the A53 crosses the route; and

works at and around Crewe station including the extension of platform 5 to accommodate 400-metre HS2 trains. These changes support the realisation of the Crewe hub vision.

The additional provision also includes works and powers related to utilities following detailed discussion with utility companies. Other changes relate to highway safety and capacity improvements.