MP calls for details of rail benefits
EAST Runcorn MP Graham Evans has been pressing for details of how HS2 will benefit Cheshire.
He asked transport minister and fellow Conservative Andrew Jones MP how many jobs were expected to be created and whether talks had taken place with local authorities on co-ordinating their plans with the £55.7bn rail upgrade.
Mr Jones said that his department had regular discussions with councils.
He said that although no employment estimates had been done for Cheshire specifically, the western section of the second phase between Crewe and Warrington and Manchester would ● ‘support’ between 30,000 and 43,600 jobs.
He added that other organisations had produced estimates.
The minister said: “For example, the Northern Gateway Development Zone in Cheshire and Staffordshire have plans to help create 120,000 jobs by 2040.
“They are currently preparing an HS2 growth strategy on how HS2 will contribute to supporting this number of new jobs in the area.
“High Speed 2 Ltd also estimate that around 25,000 private sector employment opportunities are expected to be generated in the process of building the HS2 railway, with a further 3,000 jobs to operate it once finished.”
Although not on an HS2-upgraded line, trains running between Runcorn and London will use such routes, cutting journey times to about one hour and 13 minutes between Runcorn and the capital, according to plans.