Overview
HS2 is Britain’s new high speed rail line being built from London to the North-West, with HS2 trains linking the biggest cities in Scotland with Manchester, Birmingham and London.
HS2 is designed to address four key problems facing the nation.
- it will add vital capacity to the existing rail network by taking long-distance trains off it, creating thousands of extra seats and space for more local, commuter, and freight services.
- it will help fulfil the Government’s ambition to ‘level up’ by bringing Britain’s largest economic regions closer together so that businesses no longer concentrate in London and the South-East and are encouraged to establish themselves in the Midlands and North.
- it will be the UK’s zero carbon alternative for long-distance travel. It will reduce the need for car, lorry and plane journeys playing a vital role in delivering the Government’s ambitious goal of Britain becoming net zero carbon by 2050.
- HS2’s construction will continue to support thousands of jobs, benefit UK businesses of all sizes, and lay the foundations for the arrival of more new rail services into the next decade and beyond.
Visit HS2 in Birmingham website
Page last updated: 3 August 2023
