HS2 rail link useless without Crossrail 2, source suggests

The effectiveness of the HS2 high-speed rail project has been called into question, with the government being told its expected benefits will not materialise without the additional construction of the Crossrail 2 underground rail project in London.

HS2 is expected to slash journey times between London Euston and both Birmingham and Manchester to 49 minutes and under 70 minutes respectively.

However, the management of HS2 has said those savings will evaporate when passengers arrive at an already overcrowded Euston rail terminal in central London.

Euston Station was built in its current form in the 1960s, and has a design capacity of 20 million passengers per year - although official figures showed almost 42 million people used it in the 2015-16 financial year.

It has direct connections to both the Northern and Victoria underground lines - both of which are also severely overcrowded at peak times - with the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines a short walk away.

However, once HS2 arrives, up to another 10 high speed trains will be arriving into Euston each hour, creating the potential for an extra 10,000 passengers crushing the tube connections.

That has led to an apparently senior source to tell media that Crossrail 2 - a planned, but as-yet-unfunded underground line in London - is vital to ensure the station had capacity in its onward connections.

HS2 remained “dependent” on Crossrail 2 for the new train line to be effective at Euston, the source told the Financial Times.

Crossrail 2 in its currently-planned form will traverse London from north to south, linking the Euston and Victoria rail terminals with the populous-but-underserved Battersea area around Clapham Junction.

Transport for London has pledged to fund 50% of the projected £30bn cost, although it hasn’t quite worked out where the cash will come from as it faces Tory-mandated budget cuts.

The project also has the support-in-principle of Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, although the project was controversially absent from any recent planning by the Department for Transport.

HS2’s official line was one of confidence on Monday, despite the concerns, telling the Financial Times it was sure Euston could handle the extra passenger numbers, adding it was working with Transport for London to overhaul the existing underground connections at Euston.

However, modelling by Transport for London has reportedly suggested up to 17 tube stations in the capital would be completely overwhelmed by the extra passengers, unless Crossrail 2 is built.