Building HS2 to cause 'years of misery'

Building the proposed new High Speed Two (HS2) rail line will mean years of weekend "misery" for rail passengers, according to a campaign group.

HS2 Action Alliance says a paper by HS2 Ltd shows engineering work will mean closing parts of some passenger lines for 133 weekends, and some freight lines for 50 weekends.

It would also mean 19 weekend closures at Euston station, the group said.

HS2 said any closures would be carefully planned.

On the Derby to Birmingham lines for example, the document says 32 weekends will be hit between 2017 and 2022, 13 of them for just a day and 19 for the entire weekend. The CrossCountry rail firm and freight services would both be affected.

For the Coventry to Leamington Spa route, it says four whole weekends will be lost in 2018, with passengers asked to catch a replacement bus instead.

Part of the busy West Coast Mainline will close for 31 weekends in 2018-19, as they build a new flyover junction in the Handsacre area, with trains diverted via Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Richard Houghton from HS2 Action Alliance said: "It is clear that once again HS2 is being less than honest with the travelling public. It is planning a huge number of weekend closures which will impact the travelling public.

"Combined with this its arrogance continues. It is planning to issue £7bn of supplier contracts before the Hybrid Bill passes through Parliament and now we discover it will start closing Euston before they have the legal go-ahead for the new line."

'Carefully planned'

The document does say that the number and length of the closures are just estimates at the moment, and that work will be tied in with everyday engineering projects wherever possible, to minimise disruption.

But it does warn that "HS2 phase one will need to recognise the cumulative effect on passengers and operators of disruption".

Train operators could also be compensated for the impact on their services.

HS2 Ltd spokesman David Meechan said: "Our railways are becoming increasingly crowded. Britain desperately needs this new high speed rail network to boost rail capacity and improve links between our biggest cities.

"There will be times when construction impacts on the current railway, but this will be carefully planned with Network Rail and the train operators.

"HS2 Ltd will do all it can to minimise disruption to passengers. Compensation to the train operators for any such disruption will be drawn from the existing budget for the HS2 project."

Two years ago a government commissioned report said that the alternative to building HS2, basically beefing up what is already there, would cause 14 years worth of weekend problems across the network.