UK Budget backs underground infrastructure 17 Mar 2016

The UK Budget, announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in Parliament yesterday (16 March), confirms the country’s commitment to three major transportation projects that require extensive tunnelling totalling a possible 83km of twin running alignment.

After more than a year of investigations, reports and feasibility studies carried out by the UK National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), the Government has chosen to prioritise further development of Crossrail 2 in London; a trans-Pennine road tunnel under the Peak District National Park between Manchester and Sheffield; and one or more trans-Pennine rail tunnels as part of the first stage of a phased development of the now-confirmed HS3 rail programme between Liverpool in the west and Newcastle in the north-east.

The NIC, headed by Lord Adonis, was established in 2014 to carry out “a clear picture of the future infrastructure the country needs and provide expert, independent advice on priorities” ahead of a future National Infrastructure Asessment which will “set out an overarching, long-term vision [that] the government will be obliged to respond to formally.”

In the short term the NIC was asked to report back on road and rail connectivity in the north of England, and the future transport needs of London. Yesterday’s Budget confirms all the major recommendations in support of Crossrail 2, HS3 and a trans-Pennine road link between Manchester and Sheffield.

Crossrail 2

The supplementary 148-page Budget report, which outlines the Chancellor’s Budget speech in more detail, confirms as a viable project the 38km underground central section of the north-south Crossrail 2 scheme (Fig 1). It also states the aim of passing, by 2019, the necessary legislation required to move the project to a preliminary design phase.

“The government is giving the green light to Crossrail 2, supported by £80 million to help fund development, in response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s report Transport for a World City,” says the Budget report. “The government is asking Transport for London [TfL] to match that contribution, with the aim of depositing a Hybrid Bill within this Parliament.”

It is likely that much of the funding – as it did for the Crossrail project – will come from business rates collected in areas that are likely to benefit. This type of local funding base will become much easier to tap into with the announcement that the Greater London Authority – which works closely with London transport operator TfL to develop and fund transportation infrastructure in the capital – will, from 2017, be given devolved power by the UK national government to collect and distribute all business rates in the city.

The Crossrail 2 delivery authority, established by TfL in December last year (2015), is currently developing a business case that envisages half the estimated £32 billion cost being raised from private sources.

The announcement propels Crossrail 2 to the front of a queue of major tunnelling projects that could move into construction in the next decade.

HS3

Further behind in development terms, but now with official government support following yesterday’s Budget statement, is HS3. Unlike HS1 and HS2, which feature dedicated high-speed track along their entire alignment, HS3 is a hybrid solution that takes advantage of existing mainline track – and the speed limitations this poses – plus sections of the planned future HS2 Phase 2 section between Birmingham and Manchester via Manchester Airport on the western side of the Pennine mountain range, and sections of the Phase 2 section between Birmingham and Leeds on the eastern side of the Pennines (Fig 2). It is also almost certain to benefit from entirely new sections of track – principally in running tunnels – including a tunnel of up to 20km long under the Pennines.

The long-term vision is to use this mix of current and future rail infrastructure to create, ultimately, a hybrid high-speed connection between Liverpool and Newcastle.

The UK Government’s Budget report confirms that it will kick-start far-reaching plans to improve east-west rail connectivity in the northern region as a whole as part of its so-called £13 billion “Northern Powerhouse” initiative aimed at reducing historical inequalities in infrastructure spending between the affluent south-east and London, and the less well connected north. This will be achieved in the first instance by “giving the green light to High Speed 3 between Leeds and Manchester.” This strategic corridor – which is split, geographically, by the north-south running Pennine range – has historically suffered from poor rail connectivity that is hampered by steep gradients and capacity issues and which affects all east-west connections in the whole northern region.

In his foreword to the High Speed North report, NIC chairman Lord Adonis says: “Our recommendation [to the Government] is to combine strategic early interventions with a long-term plan. Connectivity between the northern cities should be improved in stages, starting now, not waiting for the 2030s before making transformational changes. On rail this means kick-starting HS3, integrating it with HS2 and planning for the development of the north’s gateway stations.”

As well as accepting all the recommendations of the NIC’s High Speed North report – published earlier this month – the UK Government announces as part of the Budget £60 million in funding in support of further detailed planning of HS3 between Manchester and Leeds, with the aim of “reducing journey times to 30 minutes.” The current journey time along this critical corridor is 49 minutes, which will reduce to 40 minutes once £2 billion worth of track upgrades are completed by Network Rail as part of a separate program of improvements. Critically, this program is limited in scope by a requirement that only existing railway track and land be utilised. This will enable Network Rail to avoid the lengthy planning and environmental processes associated with new alignments, and ensure completion of all the improvements by 2022.