Cheshire East Council has hailed today's announcement that the Government is committed to building HS2 high-speed rail via Crewe and will invest £5bn to help bring the project online six years early.
Chancellor George Osborne, MP for Tatton, made the statement confirming the finalised route the HS2 project will take. It was also confirmed that the northern section to Crewe would be completed by 2027 rather than 2033.
Cheshire East Council Leader Councillor Michael Jones hailed the announcement as a 'game-changer' that makes it certain that Crewe will get a HS2 hub station – helping create more than 120,000 jobs by 2040 and injecting £10bn a year into the wider region's economy.
Cllr Jones also announced the Council is to establish a new regeneration company to deliver an economic growth strategy for the south Cheshire sub-region and seek Cabinet approval for the release of £500,000 from current budgets to deliver the HS2 programme. This strategy will be a key element of the wider Northern Gateway Partnership.
Previously the Transport Secretary had called for HS2 to be 'fast tracked' and indicated again that Crewe could become the first northern hub for HS2 before the 225mph service continues to Manchester.
Welcoming today's announcement Cllr Jones said: "This is massive news and a real game changer – not just for Crewe and Cheshire East, but for Stoke, North Staffordshire and the region as a whole.
"This is not simply about high speed – it is crucially about capacity and connectivity. The benefits to Crewe and the surrounding area would be massive in terms of jobs and the economy – it's a real once-in-a-generation opportunity, the like of which Cheshire East has not seen before.
"However, as we have consistently said, we want to reach out to our neighbouring local authorities and see the growth and benefits spread to them as well.
"This Council has put in an enormous amount of work over the past four years to seek to secure HS2 for Crewe and the new regeneration company will build on that.
"The confirmation of the HS2 route – which makes Crewe the logical place to locate the North West hub – is something we have been looking forward to with real anticipation.
"We want the right solution for Crewe and the wider region – that would enable the economic benefits to be enjoyed across the whole sub-region, stretching along a corridor from North Staffordshire to North Wales and Merseyside.
"A hub station in Crewe would act as the gateway to the Northern Powerhouse and provide a vital link to the Midlands Engine. HS2 promises to bring a 21st century railway revolution to Crewe and utterly transform its economic prospects and those of the surrounding region."
Mr Osborne also announced today that ex-head of the CBI busines group John Cridland would chair Transport for the North. This new body will look to improve transport links across the region.
The Council is working with Department for Transport and Network Rail to finalise the location of the new HS2 hub station at Crewe, which would be capable of serving a minimum of seven high speed trains per hour in both directions, with direct high speed connections to London, Birmingham and Manchester. It would see journey times from Crewe reduced to:
o 55 minutes to London – 45 minutes shorter than currently;
o 25 minutes to Birmingham – 30 minutes shorter;
o 20 minutes to Manchester – 18 minutes shorter;
o Two international airports (Manchester and Birmingham) can be reached in less than 40 minutes.
Image: Artist's impression of the proposed Crewe Rail Hub Station.
Comments
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What's the point of getting to the North faster, on a route that per mile is already WAY faster than to most cities, when once you get here you can only move between significant Northern cities extremely slowly and on small overcrowded trains?
HS2 is 30 years too late and will alleviate north - south capacity issues. Moving the London to Midlands, Manchester, and (eventually) Scotland off the current network and on to a new railway will free up capacity for more freight (currently desperate for growth but constrained by lack of train paths on the almost full railway), more stopping trains so residents of the Trent Valley won't be seeing fast trains flashing past non-stop between Manchester and London but will have a direct service.
Put simply, the railway has run out of capacity. We HAVE to build more. Upgrading the old system doesn't cut it (we've tried that - remember the Rugby upgrade some years ago - £9b for a small improvement and chaos while it was carried out on a live railway?). Very poor return on investment and unacceptable impact on the working railway.
It's far cheaper and far more effective to build a separate, new line. For that not to be high speed with not only its speed advantages but also continental loading gauge allowing double deck trains (not possible on our Victorian network) would be daft. As High Speed rail is commonplace in Europe the technology is 'off the shelf' and proven, so cheaper than building a classic low speed line.
We are decades behind with this. Just get on and build it. Now, not in 25 years time!
Invest in defence, border security, more airports, wider motorways with monorail above. Trains are mostly history. Monorail services in and out of city centres and relocated offices please. Run the monorails above canals. Simple and we won't have to buy from China.
We need to reinstate some of that capacity we destroyed first.
Incidentally I love the comments that we need to build a separate new line. That statement is copyright Edward Watkin (Great Central Railway) in the 1890s!
Certainly the comment that we need to improve Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds first is correct. And some of the abandoned connecting lines, using the example of London's Overground radial routes. Tram/Train would be good too.
I'll try to remember that, Terry, the next time a Pendolino whisks me from Wilmslow to Euston in 1 hour 48 minutes passing the car parks AKA M6 and M1 on the way! Actually, Terry, rail use grown by almost 300% since privatisation, and is set to continue to grow at a similar rate for decades yet. And rail freight is crying out for more growth! Our railways are busier, faster, and safer than they have ever been.That's why extra capacity is vital!
Back in the late 60s BR closed a lot of railway lines that would be useful to have today. That was back when the Terrys of this world were saying "trains are history, the future is the car" and BR was starved of funds by governments of both colours while a motorway contractor was Minister of Transport!
We now know better. By all means restore the Midland Main Line Buxton to Derby and other bits of infrastructure BR deleted, but that is not the no.1 priority. Now the privatised railway has far better funding than BR ever did a lot of the infrastructure they took out (single-lining double lines, taking out signalling etc) has been and is being restored. 4-tracking the Trent Valley has increased capacity on the West Coast Main Line and is one enabler of Virgin's 3 times an hour each way fast trains to and from London, as well as those to Liverpool, points north of Crewe, and Scotland. All of this is aside from the new railway we desperately need.
We need better east - west links as well (HS3), but first and foremost we need more north - south capacity. And we need it now, never mind in 20 years time!
This is one of the reasons why journeys between northern towns re so slow and infrequent.
lets hope they actually get on with it and build it! I look forward to reading the tripe from the multi colored papers the government like to publish.