Britain’s economic map would be redrawn, jobs created, prosperity spread and the way businesses work and compete transformed by a new high speed rail network, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said today as he launched a consultation on the Government’s proposals.
Launching one of the biggest public consultations ever undertaken, the Transport Secretary also warned that Britain’s transport network cannot afford to be left behind while competitor countries improve their transport infrastructure.
The Government is proposing a ‘Y’ shaped network linking London, the West Midlands, Manchester and Leeds, with stations in South Yorkshire and the East Midlands, and links to existing lines to enable through-running services to other cities including Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The scheme would deliver around £44bn of benefits and would cut journey times between London and other major cities by as much as an hour.
Philip Hammond said:
“We must invest in Britain’s future. High speed rail offers us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way we travel in the 21st century and would help us build a modern economy fit for the future.
“Countries across Europe and Asia are already pressing ahead with ambitious plans for high speed rail, while some of our key rail arteries are getting ever closer to capacity. We cannot afford to be left behind – investing in high speed rail now is vital to the prosperity of future generations.”
The Government believes a new high speed rail network would offer:
A better connected Britain: Bringing Birmingham within 49 minutes of London, and Manchester and Leeds within 80 minutes or less. Birmingham and Manchester would be less than 50 minutes apart and Leeds and Birmingham just over an hour. Travel from London to Scotland’s major cities would take around 3 hours 30 minutes. Running 14 or more trains per hour, each with up to 1,100 seats and offering much higher levels of reliability than the existing network, high speed rail could shift as many as 6 million air trips and 9 million road trips a year on to rail.
A foundation for growth, jobs, prosperity and regeneration: The increased speed, capacity and connectivity provided by a high speed rail network would reshape our economic geography, regenerate our urban centres and help to bridge the north-south divide that has held us back in the past, allowing Britain to build a modern economy fit for the future.
A new start for Britain’s existing rail network: With long-distance services transferred to the new high speed network, large amounts of space would be freed up on the West Coast, East Coast and Midland Main Lines, allowing for an expansion of commuter, regional and freight services on these lines.
The Government estimates the cost of the complete ‘Y’ shaped network at £32bn and expects it to generate economic benefits of around £44bn and fare revenues of around £27bn over a 60-year period. The proposed network would be delivered in two phases – the first a line from London to the West Midlands, and the second the onward legs to Manchester and Leeds.
A direct link to Britain’s existing high speed line, High Speed 1 – which runs from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel – is also proposed as part of the initial phase of the scheme, to allow travel from cities linked to the high speed network to the continent. Construction of a direct link to Heathrow airport – which, under the proposals, would be built at the same time as lines from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester – would enable direct high speed services to run to and from the airport, providing an attractive alternative to many short-haul air journeys and bringing central Birmingham within an hour of Heathrow, and Manchester and Leeds within around 70 and 75 minutes respectively.
In December 2010, the Government announced its proposed route for the first phase of a high speed line between London and the West Midlands. The consultation which begins today is both on that proposed route and the Government’s strategy for a wider network. The consultation will run until 29 July and events will take place in towns and cities along the 140-mile proposed route between London and the West Midlands, as well as in major cities across the country.
Subject to the outcome of this consultation, the Government intends to secure powers to deliver each phase of its proposed high speed network by means of the hybrid bill process. Construction of any new network would be expected to begin early in the next parliament, with the line to the West Midlands completed by 2026 and the legs to Manchester and Leeds finished in 2032-2033.
Have the government calculated the real economic loss that will be felt by all the communities along the proposed route, not just within a few meters of the line, but all the towns, businesses, villages and homes within sight and hearing of the line that will permanently and significantly lose value of property, business and quality of life?