Engineering news
The government is to consider upgrading the rail link between Manchester and Leeds as part of the review of the second phase of the HS2 rail project.
Construction of the first stage of the HS2 project, linking London to Birmingham, is proposed to begin in 2017. The second phase of the scheme, which will go north to Manchester and Leeds to form a Y-shape, is planned to be completed by 2032, six years after the London to Birmingham line.
The plan suggested by the government would link the two top points of the Y-shape and use existing rail corridors. "We need an ambitious plan to make the cities and towns here in the north radically more connected from east to west - to create the equivalent of travelling around a single global city," Osborne said. "As well as fixing the roads, that means considering a new high speed rail link."
The aim should be to create a "radical transport plan so that travelling between cities feels like travelling within one big city", he added.
But Richard Wellings, deputy editorial director and head of transport at the Institute of Economic Affairs, heavily criticised the idea. He said: "The relatively short distances between northern cities mean that high-speed rail is an expensive and inefficient way of linking them together.
"The Chancellor should be focusing on smaller-scale schemes that deliver high returns for the taxpayer or, better still, that can be financed privately, rather than concocting a headline-grabbing vanity project designed to attract votes.
Planners and engineers dealing with transport links across northern England will also have to take into account the millstone grit which accounts for much of the landscape.
But Jim Steer, director of high-speed rail research company Greenguage 21 and former managing director of planning at the Strategic Rail Authority, said that such terrain has been dealt with before and can be dealt with again.
Steer said: "There's no question the Osborne plan is feasible. it's by no means impractical.
"The Swiss are building tunnels through the Alps so it should be possible to build them through the Pennines. Also, this will be a different project to, say, Crossrail in London. There will be no need for stations or to take existing structures into account.
"Clearly, the route will have to be chosen carefully. But there is certainly a need for better cross-Pennine transport links.
Steer added:"A new route would provide so many options. You could run high-speed Channel Tunnel Eurostar trains along the route as well as freight. It would be a big boost for the north of England.