Responding to the recent Plus report, which calls for construction of the northern section of the proposed line to be accelerated, Jeremy Acklam from the Institution of Engineering and Technology () said: “One of the biggest benefits of HS2 is the economic redevelopment opportunities.

"We’ve heard a lot about these for the major cities connected by the high-speed line, but little or nothing about the potential ‘wins’ for cities beyond the immediate confines of the HS2 network. There is great potential through the connections to the east and west coast main lines for cities other than Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds to benefit from HS2, but the challenges involved in realising these benefits need to be tackled now if these locations are not to fall behind.

“Many of these smaller cities could be reached by HS2 trains using the ‘classic’ railway network to complete their journey, but this will require new — or significantly enhanced — stations. We need an urgent dialogue between HS2, Network Rail, the Train Operating Companies and local authorities to fully understand the challenges that the arrival of high-speed trains will bring to the classic railway network. My fear is that this dialogue could be left until the next Network Rail control period, which will be far too late.”

The IET also says that to increase the project benefit to the north, further assistance will be needed to ensure that northern cities are well prepared for bringing forward infrastructure work; it adds that planning to integrate High Speed rail services into the existing classic rail network and local transport systems must start this year.