Business and political leaders make joint call for underground high-speed rail station for Greater Manchester

Business and political leaders from across Greater Manchester are calling on government to commit to an underground high-speed rail interchange at in Manchester Piccadilly to ensure the city-region and wider North of England can derive the maximum benefit from the enhanced connectivity of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Current government proposals for linking HS2 with future East-West high speed services, dubbed Northern Powerhouse Rail or HS3, feature ‘turnback’ surface level platforms for East-West trains, which would reverse out of Manchester Piccadilly when continuing on to Liverpool or Leeds. Voices in city-region, including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, representing business interests across the North, instead believe an underground station at Piccadilly for high-speed services would better serve the region’s economy.

Proponents of an underground station believe a turnback station built on the surface places an unnecessary limit on its ability to accommodate more long-distance and local trains once NPR and HS2 services are running in the future. Moving trains underground would also maximise regeneration and development opportunities around Piccadilly, supporting 14,000 jobs, new housing and delivering £333 million a year more in benefits by 2050 to the local economy than the overground proposal.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Greater Manchester’s Federation of Small Businesses are also among those backing an underground Piccadilly station, with a consensus that Britain’s economic ambitions will pay the price otherwise. There are concerns that the route might terminate at Old Oak Common rather than carry on into the centre of the capital at Euston in light of spiralling construction costs, requiring passengers to transfer to the Elizabeth Line to reach central London.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

“In HS2 we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver something truly transformational for Greater Manchester, the North and the whole of the country that will improve the lives of generations to come.

“But in its current form, HS2 does not do that. In order to truly maximise the benefits of high-speed rail between London and Manchester and future Northern Powerhouse Rail services, a through-station that unlocks seamless onward connections to the rest of the North at Manchester Piccadilly simply has to happen, and it needs to be connected directly to London Euston, not six miles out of the city.

“Government’s current proposals for a turnback station on the surface will slow travel down and limit our ability to grow services in the future to support the greater connectivity and economic benefits HS2 should open up.

“Decisions made on HS2 now are absolutely vital to the future. I’m delighted, but unsurprised, that we can add the support of the North’s leading businesses in the form of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, to the list of those backing an underground station at Piccadilly. Next week Greater Manchester will make this case strongly in Parliament, but ultimately it’s the Government who need to get this right now in the best interests of our future.”

Cllr Bev Craig, Greater Manchester Lead for Economy, Business and Inclusive Growth, said:

“HS2 will bring much-needed capacity to our creaking rail network and create enormous new opportunities. But an overground station with limited resilience and constrained scope for future growth would squander many of those potential positives. 

“Our case, which I will be making in Parliament next week, is that a strategic rather than short-sighted view is needed which looks at the ongoing long-term benefits and not just the immediate investment required. If as a nation we get this critical infrastructure project wrong, we will be counting the costs for many decades to come.  

“After decades of transport underinvestment, the North deserves better.”  

Henri Murison, Chief Executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said:

“We have got to choose the North’s long-term prosperity and ambition over short-term cost cutting. 

“An underground station would unlock additional land in the city centre, enable a deliverable through-route for Northern Powerhouse Rail towards Yorkshire and ultimately deliver a far higher return for the taxpayer.  

“Equally as important is ensuring we get a fair deal for the high-speed station at Manchester Airport, which government is asking the local public sector to fund – unlike the station at Birmingham Airport. We need a serious conversation about funding options for both stations, including a development corporation to maximise the number of homes we can deliver in and around Greater Manchester.”

Manchester City Council and other partners will be making the case for the underground station at Manchester Piccadilly to the High Speed Rail (Crewe-Manchester) Bill Select Committee from 12 June.