For those who think there could never be a worse disaster than HS2, or hope that governments can learn from their mistakes, I have disappointing news. Later this month, ministers will unveil a future platinum medallist in the Fiasco Olympics: a project which even their own infrastructure watchdog calls ‘unachievable’. A new, high-speed line between Liverpool and Manchester which will actually take longer than the existing rail service.

Called Northern Powerhouse Rail, this section alone will cost a claimed £17 billion (in reality, perhaps £30 billion). It will be a high-speed railway on which trains can never reach high speeds, because the stations are too close together. It will leave Manchester via a vastly expensive new eight-mile tunnel in the wrong direction – roughly south, only then turning west towards Liverpool, hence the longer journey time. The official reason for doing it like this is to serve Manchester Airport. But the ‘airport’ station would be almost a mile away from the airport. You’d have to transfer by bus.

The real reason, almost certainly, is that those eight miles in the wrong direction were also slated to carry the now-cancelled northern leg of HS2, between Manchester and the Midlands. The secret plan may be to revive the rest of that scheme, too, for a slimline further £25–30 billion. Ministers may also announce a new high-speed line east of Manchester, across the Pennines to Leeds. On this stretch, there is already a fully funded upgrade of the existing, conventional route, now in construction, which cuts the Manchester–Leeds journey from 64 to 41 minutes and delivers six fast trains an hour.........

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