Bosses demand £2.3bn Midland rail action plan
Call for more lines into Moor Street Station
WEST Midland business leaders have written to Boris Johnson urging the Government to back a £2.3 billion improvement plan for the region’s rail services.
They want the Government to fund a project called the Midlands Rail Hub, which includes transforming Birmingham Moor Street into major station with two additional platforms.
Ministers are expected to announce a decision as soon as next week, in advance of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget statement on October 27.
A letter co-ordinated by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce has been signed by senior managers from more than 80 businesses, including professional services firms Mills & Reeve, Browne Jacobson and Geldards LLP, engineering consultancies Aecom, Kier and Matt Macdonald, manufacturers Hitachi and Alstom, and the NEC group.
The letter says investment in the Midlands Rail Hub “is not only an investment in businesses, industry and our future success, but will also catalyse additional private sector investment”.
It adds: “Given the pressures of the last 18 months, it’s essential we get started now”.
And the letter points out that the 2019 Conservative Party Manifesto included a pledge to kickstart the
Midlands Rail Hub, and listed the scheme as a key transport priority.
The improvements proposed as part of the scheme will include the construction of two new rail links into Birmingham Moor Street station, alongside upgrades to signalling and existing track.
These changes will create space for 20 additional trains to move into and out of central Birmingham every hour, from locations including Bromsgrove, Hereford, Worcester, Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
It will also eventually accommodate new services on the Camp Hill line, expected to be popular with inner city commuters. Once completed, the Midlands Rail Hub will provide over 11 million additional passenger seats on the rail network every year.
The businesses also highlighted the importance of the project’s impact on rail freight, with it due to create room for an additional 1 million lorries’ worth of cargo to be moved by rail each year.
Henrietta Brealey, CEO of Greater
Birmingham Chambers of Commerce said: “The Midlands Rail Hub is an infrastructure project that, alongside HS2, will bring huge social, economic and environmental benefits to our region.
By opening up access to a wider talent pool, encouraging crossregional trade, and sparking wider investment, it will speed the region’s post-pandemic recovery and give us the room we need to make more sustainable transport choices.
Government signalled its support for the project in its Manifesto, it’s now time that we get on and deliver.”
Boris Johnson’s Government is to announce long-awaited decisions about a series of rail projects before next week’s Autumn Budget, which takes place on October 27.
Downing Street won’t say when exactly the announcement is due. However, leaders in the Midlands are gearing up to expect something very close to the Budget, possibly on October 26.
The announcement will be made in a document called the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands.
It is expected to reveal what Ministers have decided to do about projects including the HS2 high speed rail line, Northern Powerhouse Rail, Trans-Pennine rail upgrades and the Midlands Rail Hub.