It will bring cites closer, enable businesses to operate more productively, support employment and regeneration, provide a genuine alternative to domestic aviation and create a platform for sustainable economic growth and prosperity.
HS2 links London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds
It will cost £32bn to construct and would generate wider benefits of £44bn as well as revenues totaling a further £27bn
HS2 will slash journey times, increase capacity to meet the rising demand and ease overcrowding on existing railways.
The first phase will create 40,000 jobs and contribute to the major regeneration programs in Britain's inner cities.

Network Rail unveils £37.5bn investment plan (Video)

Which goes on to state what the investment will be split into, covering the different amounts which will go into certain aspects of developing the rail line. HS2 is putting right what should have been carried out in the fifties and is reversing sixty years of government policy of ignoring the rail system