The government is set to scrap the eastern leg of HS2 between the Midlands and Leeds, according to the BBC.
The BBC reports that The Transport Department will instead announce a new rail plan on Thursday, involving £96bn of funding for new routes in the North and Midlands.
Sources said the impact of scrapping the Leeds leg of HS2 would make journeys longer by 20 minutes.
But the government is set to argue the new plans will deliver comparable benefits and be quicker and cheaper.
A source told the BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley they would show an “enormous amount of common sense”.
High Speed 2 is a planned new high-speed railway line, originally meant to connect London with the city centres of Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
However, Conservative MPs have expressed concerns about the cost of the eastern leg connecting the West Midlands and Leeds, and there have been rumours it would be scrapped for some time.
