HS3, the planned fast rail link between Manchester and Leeds, needs "kick-starting" as part of a broader plan to improve transport links in northern England, a report has concluded.
The
National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) also called for improvements
on the most congested part of the M62 motorway to be sped up.
The government is set to commit £300m for transport projects in the Budget.
It is also expected to fund the start of work on the Crossrail 2 rail line.
'Economic boost'
More details are expected in the Budget on Wednesday, although almost half of the transport money committed was announced in last year's Autumn Statement.
The Crossrail
2 project will link Hertfordshire and Surrey and tunnel beneath central
London, passing through Tottenham Hale, Euston-St Pancras, Tottenham
Court Road, Victoria and Clapham Junction. It is planned that the line
will open by 2033.
Speaking on Tuesday, Chancellor George Osborne said: "In the Budget
tomorrow I'm going to give the green light to Crossrail 2 in London and
the new High Speed 3 link across the north of England."
He said that improving transport links would "be a huge boost to the economy of the north of England and the whole of the United Kingdom".
HS3 and M62 work: Transport improvements 'too little, too late' Lord Adonis on northern transport plans.
But Lib Dem leader Tim Farron dismissed the plans as "fantasy infrastructure" that would not be built for 20 years.
'No big bang'
The
chancellor is expected to commit £75m to explore plans for a new
trans-Pennine road tunnel and bring forward £161m for upgrades to the
M62 Liverpool-Hull motorway.
The former Labour transport secretary and chair of the NIC, Lord Adonis, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that transport improvements in the north of England were already being undertaken.
He said these projects - including the electrification of the railway line between Manchester and Leeds - should be "seen as the first stage on the road" towards HS3.
Lord Adonis
said electrification of the Manchester-to-Leeds railway line would
bring journey times down to 40 minutes, with HS3 cutting journey times
to 30 minutes.
"This is going to be a phased approach. It's not
going to be one big bang like HS2, which is the creation of a completely
new line from nothing," he told the BBC.
"It will be a mixture of improving the current line and stretches of new line to deliver two objectives: big cuts in journey times
between the big northern cities, from Liverpool in the west to Hull in
the east, and also big improvements in capacity, so you can have much
more regular trains as well as faster trains."
In its report, the NIC said the north of England needed "immediate and very significant investment" in transport.
"Leeds
and Manchester are just 40 miles apart, but there is no quick and easy
way to travel between the two," it said. "In rush-hour, it can take more
than two hours by car; by train, it can be almost an hour.
"So we should kick-start HS3 across the Pennines and slash journey times to just 30 minutes. But we must not wait decades for change - journey times should be cut to 40 minutes by 2022."
A plan should be drawn up by 2017, the report said.
Lord Adonis also said that improvements to the M62 should ensure that road journeys between Liverpool and Leeds would be cut by up to 20%.
Other recommendations include redeveloping Manchester Piccadilly train station and incorporating key parts of the north in the HS2 train network.
The NIC was set up by the government last year to advise on long-term projects to boost the economy.
A full blueprint for HS3 will be drawn up next year.
Steven
Joseph, boss of pressure group Campaign for Better Transport said:
"It's long overdue to have the investment on rail in the North.
"It's
been starved of investment for years - it's had trains that even Iran
has scrapped 10 years ago. It's now going to see proper investment if Lord Adonis' recommendations are properly followed through."
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