Britons will have to be ‘incentivised’ NOT to travel by train as Rishi Sunak’s scrapping of HS2 will mean trains will have fewer seats, watchdog says… as it revealed Birmingham’s new station will remain with four “useless” platforms

Britons will have to be encouraged not to travel by train because of Rishi Sunak’s decision to scrap the northern part of HS2, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned.

The National Audit Office found that the former prime minister’s dramatic scaling back of the beleaguered rail project would mean running trains with fewer seats than now.

This was despite the original aim of HS2 being to increase the UK’s rail capacity.

A new report from the watchdog said the West Coast Main Line, which links London to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, could now “reach capacity by the mid-2030s”.

It also revealed how HS2 bosses were still intent on building Birmingham’s planned new Curzon Street station with seven platforms, even though it now only needs three.

Mr Sunak announced he was canceling the northern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester during his keynote speech at last year’s Conservative Party conference.

The Prime Minister at the time blasted the project’s ballooning costs and promised to throw the savings into hundreds of new transport projects in the North and Midlands.

In its latest report on the HS2 fiasco, the NAO found that the Department for Transport (DfT) and HS2 Ltd – the government-owned company responsible for building the new railway – have differing views on how much it will cost to complete the remaining part of the rail project.

The report said that before the northern section was scrapped, HS2 Ltd had estimated the total costs of “Phase 1” – the London-Birmingham section which is still under construction – to be between £49bn and £57bn (at 2019 prices).

This compared to the DfT’s estimated cost of £45bn to £54bn. The NAO said both estimates were above the project’s current funding of £44.6bn.

His report also found that the closure of ‘Phase 2’ of HS2 – the Birmingham-Manchester leg – would take three years to complete at a cost of up to £100m.

At the end of March this year, HS2 bosses had already spent £592m buying up land and around 1,000 properties on phase 2, which will no longer be needed, the watchdog added.

It warned that “the full program to dispose of land and properties that are no longer needed will take several years to complete.”

Following Mr Sunak’s decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2, The DfT said HS2 trains will run north of Birmingham on the West Coast Main Line.

The NAO said this “may provide some time savings” on journeys running to London but “will not improve capacity on the line”.

His report stated that HS2 services will have fewer seats than those currently operating, unless changes are made to infrastructure and stations to accommodate longer trains.

It noted that HS2 Ltd estimates there could be a 17% reduction in capacity between Birmingham and Manchester.

The NAO said one option for the DfT could involve “demand management” – for example by “encouraging people to travel at different times or not to travel by train”.

It added: “This may limit economic growth in the region in the long term and increase environmental costs.”

Another possibility could be to improve or add infrastructure, but “this can be costly and disruptive,” the watchdog said.

Birmingham Curzon Street station will be the first brand new intercity terminus station built in Britain since the 19th century.

It had been planned to be at the heart of the HS2 project and on the site of a former station of the same name in the West Midlands city.

The NAO report found that to “avoid unnecessary costs” from amending or canceling existing plans after the cancellation of the northern segment of HS2, all seven planned platforms will still be built at Curzon Street, although only three are now required.

It said: “The general principle of the DfT is to stop work where it is no longer required for Phase 1, unless it would cost more to stop or change the plans.”

“As a result, some infrastructure works may be completed which are not required for Phase 1.

“For example, the DfT has decided that all platforms will still be built at Birmingham Curzon Street station, although not all will become operational as part of the HS2 programme, to avoid unnecessary costs.”

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: “This is a project of unprecedented scale and complexity and the cancellation of Phase 2 has increased our cost challenges.

“We are now making major reforms to better control costs and deliver the next stage of the program – peaking construction between London and the West Midlands and starting the transition to a functioning railway.”

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “It has long been clear that the Tories mismanaged HS2 and allowed costs to spiral completely out of control – but this report reveals the extent of their mistakes.

“We are considering the findings of this report alongside the position we have inherited on HS2 and wider transport infrastructure and will set out next steps in due course.

“Transport is a key part of our mission to rebuild Britain – and we are committed to delivering infrastructure that works for the whole country.”