More and faster journeys planned via Midlands Rail Hub
A 20-year strategy has been launched to create a Midlands Rail Hub that is expected to be worth up to £649 million a year to the region’s economy by 2037.
The new strategy, announced by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling and emerging subnational transport body Midlands Connect on July 9, aims to create six million extra journeys while also improving the speed of east-west travel.
It could also enable up to £22 billion worth of goods to be moved from the road to the rail network, by creating a further 36 train paths per day for freight. According to Midlands Connect’s
Our Routes to Growth report, in which the new strategy is contained, delivering these benefits would require implementation of a programme of enhancements to increase capacity.
These enhancements include longer and restored platforms, improved junctions and signalling, and some minor electrification, which would need to be completed by 2026 to allow some new services to run in time for the arrival of HS2 Phase 1.
Proposals for the Midlands Rail Hub would double the number of trains per hour between Birmingham and Nottingham, Leicester and Hereford.
Journey times would also be reduced from 69 minutes to 50 minutes between Nottingham and Birmingham, and from 84 minutes to 60 minutes between Hereford and Birmingham. In turn, this would improve access to the city’s planned HS2 station at Curzon Street for businesses and communities in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and south Wales.
There are also plans to reinstate a direct service between Coventry and Leicester. This would take 35 minutes compared with the current journey time of 48 minutes, which requires a change at Nuneaton.
The report also recommends new services from Birmingham Moor Street to King’s Norton along the Camp Hill Line, which would enable construction of three new stations and a new junction to be built with the Chiltern line.
However, construction of the chord would require land acquisition, planning permission and significant design work, making the target date for its completion more likely to be 2033 in time for the opening of HS2 Phase 2.
The strategy has received the backing of Grayling, who said that £5m had already been allocated by government to develop the Midlands Rail Hub proposal.
“These proposals capture the extraordinary economic potential and ambition of the Midlands Engine - focused on driving forward growth, creating new jobs and delivering better journeys for passengers across the region,” he said.
“It is excellent to see Midlands Connect are committed to maximising the significant benefits to connectivity and capacity HS2 offers, as well as ensuring we capitalise on the biggest modernisation of the rail network since the Victorian era. The Government will continue to work with Midlands Connect to develop these proposals to help ensure the region has the transport system it needs for a prosperous future.”
Sir John Peace, chairman of Midlands Connect and Midlands Engine, said: “Improving eastwest connectivity and access to HS2 services are top priorities for Midlands Connect. The Midlands Rail Hub proposals can bring our great towns and cities closer together and accelerate the massive job creation we’re seeing all over the region. “The initiatives outlined in Our
Routes to Growth are based on thorough research and detailed studies to identify which projects will give the greatest returns to rail passengers, road users and (most importantly) the regional and national economies. Britain needs a transport infrastructure that delivers more jobs, a better quality of life, and attracts greater international investment.”