Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street are to begin construction of the HS2 high speed rail line in Birmingham today.
The pair will oversee the start of work on the line, near the Curzon Street high speed rail station in Birmingham city centre.
And Mr Street will tell the Conservative Party conference, taking place at the ICC in Broad Street, that the new rail line is evidence that the party "stands up for those in the great towns and cities of the Midlands and the North of England".
He will deliver a speech to the conference, which begins today, after delighting Tory activists by winning the election to become West Midlands Mayor in 2017.
The Government is committed to completing HS2, set to run between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, but Tory Boris Johnson, seen as a potential leadership candidate, has criticised the project.
Mr Street will urge Tory activists to ignore the scheme's opponents, saying: "HS2 is having a real impact right now creating new jobs, building new homes, and improving local transport links.
"We need to stand strong for what is in the whole nation’s interest."
Supporters of HS2 say knowledge that the rail line is coming has already attracted employers to Birmingham such as HSBC, which will employ 2,500 at its new UK headquarters in the city.
The HS2 project currently employs 7,000 people and the number will increase to 15,000 in 18 months and 30,000 in five years.
Mr Street will also tell the party conference that pride has returned to the West Midlands following years of decline.
He is expected to say: "I was brought up here. I went to school here. As a kid, I was often around this part of town.
"Back then, there was no Conference Centre, no Symphony Hall. Manufacturing jobs had gone, and no other jobs were here to take their place.
"You’d see trolleys dumped in the canals, derelict buildings and closed down factories. A decay that looked like it couldn’t be fixed. Most of all, the pride of this great place had been dented."
But he will continue: "In the last few years, we have started to turn things around.
"The West Midlands had the biggest increase in jobs last year; more startups than anywhere else outside London; we are the only region in the country with a trade surplus with China.
"That West Midlands pride has started to break out. You can feel it, and it’s contagious."
