Boris Johnson is poised to finally give the green light to the controversial High Speed 2 rail line from London to the Midlands today.
Despite the soaring cost - as high as £106 bn - and the opposition of dozens of Tory MPs the Prime Minister will announce the project will go ahead.
But while he will confirm the first stage of the scheme to Birmingham, the second phase to Manchester and Leeds will be put on ice until ministers have held a review.
Downing Street is understood to want to try to reduce costs and to integrate the lines into existing railways across the North.
Mr Johnson is planning to announce other transport projects as part of a major infrastructure package to show he is serious about ‘levelling up’ the economy.
He hopes to quell a growing Tory rebellion by allocating an extra £5bn for buses and cycling projects over the next five years.
And he is expected to back the long-delayed electrification of the transpennine rail route between Manchester and York.
After meeting with his Cabinet, the PM will confirm the HS2 project's future in the Commons -despite its price tag leaping up from £56bn last summer.
Under his plans, the initial phase will include a spur from Birmingham to Crewe, while the second stage would be recast as a Northern regeneration scheme.
He will continue to come under pressure from civic leaders across the North to deliver the second stretch - as well as committing to a new high speed transpennine route.
High-speed trains will also run beyond the new lines on existing tracks as far as Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The company which has overseen soaring costs, HS2 Ltd, is expected to be split up, with responsibility for regenerating Euston station hived off.
HS2 was due to open in 2026 but has already been delayed by at least two years, and possibly more, well beyond the end of this Parliamentary term.
Labour's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the project had been "appallingly mismanaged" by the Tories.
He called for the high-speed railway to be integrated with Crossrail for North - a proposed boost for rail services between Liverpool and Hull - and eventually extend high-speed lines to Scotland to remove demand for domestic flights.
