Imagine spending upwards of £50bn on a new high speed rail line which ends up cutting capacity and leading to slower journey times. Good news! You don't have to. It is a reasonable description of the impact of axing HS2 north of Birmingham, via a properly jaw-dropping report by the National Audit Office (NAO).
You may recall that last October, Rishi Sunak announced at Conservative Party conference – in Manchester – that plans to extend HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester were to be shelved. Instead, the Department for Transport (DfT) revealed that trains would run north of Birmingham on the existing West Coast Main Line.
