South Yorkshire HS2 rail college construction starts

The Doncaster college is set to open in September 2017

Work is to start on the construction of the £25m National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster.

The college, and its partner site in Birmingham, will train engineers working on the HS2 link between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

It will open in September 2017.

Performing a ground breaking ceremony, Transport Minister Robert Goodwill described the college as "a tremendous opportunity for young people".

"We're going to need 25,000 people to build this railway," he said.

Transport Minister Robert Goodwill performed the ground breaking ceremony

"We're going to need a lot of technical skills and this college is all about equipping our people with the skills they'll need to build this railway, so we don't have to bring them in from elsewhere."

The HS2 high-speed rail line will cost a total of £42.6bn to build. Phase one will run between London and Birmingham, with construction proposed to start in 2017. It is hoped it will be operational in 2026.

A second phase connecting Manchester and Leeds could start being built in the middle of the next decade, with the line scheduled to open by 2032-33.

Last year, a report by a committee of MPs said they were sceptical whether the scheme would deliver value for money.