New route through South Yorkshire cut HS2's price tag by around £1bn

This is one of the conclusions from a report by David Higgins, HS2 Ltd’s chairman, which proposes that HS2 services between London and Sheffield take a spur off the new north-south high-speed line and travel directly to the existing Sheffield Midland station using the existing railway line.

These trains could then potentially call at Chesterfield with a future option of HS2 services extending onwards to the existing Meadowhall station, Rotherham, or Barnsley.

A city centre station solution for Sheffield high speed services would reportedly allow the main HS2 line to be built east of the previously proposed route, through less densely populated areas that would avoid building a line via Meadowhall.

It is believed that the newly proposed route would cut journey times on services heading to Leeds, York and Newcastle, and would also reduce the cost of the project by around £1bn. HS2 Ltd will also investigate the possibility of a parkway station on the newly proposed route, which in part follows the M18 motorway.