Northern route ‘half speed of HS2’
Grayling says 125mph all region needs
TRANSPORT: The proposed high speed rail line across the North is likely to be have trains running at 125mph, around half the speed of the HS2 route, according to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.
Mr Grayling says trains running on the planned Northern Powerhouse Rail will not travel at 250mph from east to west.
THE PROPOSED high speed rail line across the North is likely to be have trains running at 125mph, around half the speed of the HS2 route, according to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.
Mr Grayling says trains running on the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail, also known as HS3, will not travel at 250mph from east to west “because that’s not what that needs”.
He told The Times newspaper that the key route between Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and other major northern cities, the centrepiece of plans to revolutionise transport in the region, “is more likely to be 125mph railway because of the distances”.
Transport for the North, which set out its 30-year vision earlier this year, says a high speed rail line between Leeds and Manchester, stopping at Bradford, will speed up journey times from 49 minutes to 30, and mean trips from Sheffield to Leeds will take 26 minutes compared with the current 41.
And responding to the comments by Mr Grayling, a spokeswoman for the strategic transport body said these journey times would be achievable if trains only go at 125mph. She said the average speed between Leeds and Manchester is currently 50mph.
She said: “We expect trains running on Northern Powerhouse Rail to be capable of running at speeds of at least 125mph and this was factored in when we agreed the initial aspirational journey times for the network and represents a significant and transformational increase over the speeds currently being achieved by trains running east to west on rail lines in the North today.”
In his interview, Mr Grayling said the £56bn HS2 line between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, which will carry 250mph trains, would create extra space on existing lines.
Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “As an organisation, Northern Powerhouse Partnership firmly believes that government must commit to providing a high-speed Northern Powerhouse Rail network capable of delivering transformational journey times and capacity for the commuters and families of the North.
“Northern Powerhouse Rail will be a mix of new lines, improvements to the existing network and linking up HS2 with east-west services.
“Some parts of the network may not reach the high-speeds HS2 will achieve because of the distances involved – Leeds to Manchester is a distance about the length of the Central Line – but cutting the journey times between those two cities to under 30 minutes will be a gamechanger for productivity across the North.”
Cutting journey times will be a game-changer for northern productivity. Henri Murison, Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
THE YORKSHIRE Post has long suspected that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is trying to fob this region off with second best when it comes to upgrading the trans-Pennine railway. This misgiving is now borne out by the Cabinet minister’s latest interview that could be construed as lacking ambition.
“What the North won’t have is a 250mph railway from east to west because that’s not what that needs. It’s more likely to be 125mph because of the distances,” he told The Times.
Once again, Mr Grayling does not grasp the level of anger here about his approach to policy-making – and decades of underinvestment by successive governments.
This region is not expecting 250mph trains now or at some stage in the future. The average speed between Leeds and Manchester, two great cities of the North, is 50mph. But it does want Mr Grayling to be sufficiently open-minded and for the Government to press ahead with the plan that best meets the future economic needs of the region, and which has the potential to benefit the greatest number of people. Furthermore, residents and businesses also want the Transport Secretary to show the same enthusiasm that he’s bestowed upon Crossrail and other projects in London.
As such, political and business leaders should heed the advice of Lord Adonis, the former head of the National Infrastructure Commission. He has urged them to finalise their transPennine rail plan by the end of the year, if the scheme is not to play second fiddle to Crossrail 2 which Mr Grayling is advocating for the capital. It is a task which has just become even more important – and urgent.