Rail revival or recycled waste? Reeves’ plan echoes HS2 failures

Rachel Reeves is pushing forward with a £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail project, brushing aside fears it could become another HS2-style waste of taxpayers’ money.

'What about the rest of the country?'

On #BBCBreakfast Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended plans to improve rail links between England's northern towns and cities – after a viewer questioned investment in train services elsewherehttps://t.co/I1D8y6yAkL pic.twitter.com/zjU9GlfIy1

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 14, 2026

Insanity: doing the same old thing and expecting a different result

The Canary’s Joe Glenton wrote yesterday about the similarities between the new rail plans to its failed predecessor, HS2. Glenton questions whether UK taxpayers got value for money:

The BBC says that £100bn was spent “135 miles of railway”. Great effort, lads. It’s not like that money could have gone on something useful.

Reeves says she is pushing ahead with confidence, claiming an extended review has learned from HS2’s failures and will stop history repeating itself. The HS2 project was estimated to have cost just under £62bn as of June 2024.

Here’s hoping they don’t learn from the Tories how to line their mates’ pockets with public funds!

This X account points out just how necessary the work is, but highlights how the HS2 project has diverted focus from the North’s long-neglected rail network:

Interesting to hear Rachel Reeves talk about the well-overdue upgrades to the Northern Rail network

Although these improvements could have probably been started ages ago if the previous govt hadn’t wasted so much time & money on their HS2 vanity project

#BBCBreakfast
#r4today

This X account

Rachel Reeves claims the announcement about northern rail upgrades was delayed because they wanted to avoid making a big announcement then having to change course when they realised they’d made a mistake. Which has been this government’s exact approach to every other policy

The plan has attracted support from Northern cities that would benefit from improvements to the rail network, suggesting Reeves best make sure she delivers on her promises:

BREAKING 🚨government confirms multibillion pound investment in Northern Powerhouse Rail 🚅

Backed by @LCRMayor, the plans include a new rail line between Liverpool and Manchester, supporting jobs, housebuilding and economic development across the Liverpool City Region and the… pic.twitter.com/ElHHLjj5EW

— Liverpool City Region (@LpoolCityRegion) January 14, 2026

Tread carefully, Reeves

Northern cities urgently need a modern, reliable rail network. Successive governments have underfunded the North for decades, allowing infrastructure to fall behind the South. Workers continue to call for long-overdue upgrades to a Victorian-era system that slows commutes and fails regularly. With this announcement, Reeves and the Labour government appear to be trying to answer that call.

Let’s hope their profit-chasing mates aren’t on the other line, putting their interests ahead of the country’s.

Featured image via the Canary