The high speed rail link connecting Crewe to Birmingham will open six years ahead of schedule in 2027, Chancellor George Osborne confirmed.
Once Phase 2a has opened in 2027, the reduced journey times delivered by HS2 phases 1 and 2a will be: the travel time between Crewe and London will be cut by 35 minutes, that between Manchester and London will be cut by 40 minutes and that between Glasgow and London will be cut by 48 minutes.
Set to considerably slash journey times and increase capacity on busy railways, the new Birmingham-Crewe route has long been billed as a significant catalyst for driving growth and rebalancing regional economies across the country.
The government is committed to delivering the whole of HS2, setting out £55.7 billion (EUR 79.3 bn) for the programme in the 2015 Spending Review. Once complete, HS2 will mean journey times fall by an hour from London to Manchester, by 53 minutes from London to Glasgow and by 65 minutes from Birmingham Curzon Street to Leeds.
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