Last-ditch bid to block HS2 plan

THE £56 billion HS2 high speed rail line won’t live up to promises, says MP Michael Fabricant.

The claims in the House of Commons came as he launched a last-ditch bid to block it.

He said that we were originally promised trains running directly from Birmingham to Paris.

But the proposal has been scrapped - and travellers hoping to visit France will only get as far as London before they have to switch to a different train in a different station, taking their luggage with them.

The MP said: “So much for a quick and easy journey to Paris.”

Mr Fabricant, Conservative MP for Lichfield, spoke in the House of Commons as he explained why he was voting against the Government.

MPs were debating proposals to build an extension of the HS2 line to Crewe. Services are due to run from London to Birmingham by 2026, with the extension from Birmingham to Crewe opening in 2027.

Coventry will be linked to a new HS2 station near Birmingham Airport, possibly by a new light rail line.

Services will also run to Manchester and to Leeds from 2033.

As Mr Fabricant said, the original plan was for HS2 trains to run directly from Birmingham Interchange, a planned new station near Birmingham Airport, to Euston in London and then on to Paris and other destinations such as Brussels, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

This would be achieved by connecting HS2 to the first high speed line, known as HS1, which was completed in 2007 and runs south-east of London, through Kent and into the Channel Tunnel.

A Department for Transport consultation in 2011, called High Speed Rail: Investing in Britain’s Future, stated: “A link to HS1 would make it possible to travel non-stop from the Birmingham Interchange station to Paris in under three hours.”

The consultation also included a map, showing what was planned.

But those proposals have now been scrapped. Instead, HS2 trains will stop at London Euston, and passengers heading for the Continent will need to make their way to Lon- don St Pancras station to catch a Eurostar service through the Channel Tunnel.

It’s only a ten minute journey on the Underground or by taxi, or a 15-minute walk, but Mr Fabricant said it would be a challenge for many passengers with heavy luggage.

He said: “When HS2 was first envisioned, people spoke about people in Manchester, in Leeds and Birmingham being able to get on to a high speed train and ending up in Paris, in Lyons, indeed even Berlin. But that’s not to be.”

He added: “It’s not connected, it’s not integrated, you can’t get on in Birmingham and end up in France. It doesn’t connect to HS1.”

Ministers need Parliamentary approval to press ahead with the Crewe link and if this was refused then it could theoretically throw the future of the whole project into doubt.

However, there is a consensus on the Conservative and Labour leadership that HS2 should go ahead, so while there are some backbench MPs in all parties who oppose the scheme, there is no realistic chance of blocking it now.