01:03
Tieng Anh Vui
The alternative to building HS2 would need 14 years of weekend route closures and longer journey times, a government-commissioned report says.
The report, by Network Rail and Atkins, says upgrading existing rail lines would severely affect the East Coast, Midland and West Coast mainlines.
It says it would double travel times between Leeds and London.
The study will inform the government's updated business case for HS2, expected to be published this week.
The report says that, in total, the lines would require 2,770 weekend closures involving 144,000 hours of work.
Modelling a typical weekend, the report argues that the journey time from London to Leeds could be increased by two hours and 10 minutes to more than four and a half hours while the work is going on.
A journey between Huntingdon and Peterborough would be doubled to an hour.
Atkins has also concluded that residential and commercial demolitions would be required.
A government source said: "We need to do something because our railways are nearly full, but the alternative to HS2 is a patch and mend job that would cause 14 years of gridlock, hellish journeys and rail replacement buses.
"The three main routes to the north would be crippled and the economy would be damaged."
On Sunday, the Treasury Minister, Danny Alexander, told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme that he was "very confident" the HS2 high-speed rail project would be delivered within its £42.6bn budget.
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