MP presses claims for HS2 Crewe Hub station

Vale of Clwyd MP James Davies has written to Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling, to highlight his concern that current plans for HS2 “fall short” of providing North Wales and Cheshire with the connectivity it needs to boost economic performance.

On behalf of a group of MPs representing constituencies throughout the region, Davies wrote that with sufficient investment in transport, 70,000 new jobs could be created and the cross-border economy’s gross value added (GVA) doubled to £50.5 billion over the next 20 years.

He added that to deliver this Crewe would need to be made an HS2 hub, with five to seven trains calling at Crewe each hour bound for a variety of destinations including Scotland, Manchester and Birmingham. Current proposals state that just two trains would call there, on their way between London and Liverpool or Preston, with the majority of high-speed services routed through a tunnel beneath the station without stopping.

The letter also calls for a gradeseparated junction at Crewe North, to increase capacity for extra services by removing the current conflicting movements between the West Coast Main Line and routes to North Wales and Manchester.

Davies concluded: “In the context of a £50bn+ project, we would argue that the cost of these proposed improvements is relatively small. We would very much value your detailed attention to the delivery of a true Crewe Hub station model offering fit-forpurpose connectivity.”

In response to a question asked in Parliament by David Hanson (Labour, Delyn) on March 30, Grayling replied: “I am seized of the necessity to make sure that North Wales does not miss out in the investment that we are putting into our rail network.”