HS2
RethinkingHS2 T
he NorthStart scheme is Michael Wand’s Plan B for HS2. As well as putting fast connectivity before top speed, it includes a rail link between London Stratford and Birmingham and a Pennine crossrail to fast-link Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester Victoria. Construction would start North- first and here’s why:
The tilt towards London London dominates the UK and its economy to an extent not seen in any of its major competitors. The capital’s national and local institutions, media, businesses, traders, consultancies and the sheer extent of its commuter catchment combine to make it a virtual monopoly. And it has no real UK competitors.
Airport capacity
London also has the UK’s three biggest airports by passenger volume and runway length, each connected to the centre by rail. Even London Southend has a rail service to and from the capital. Only London Luton lacks.
Beyond London, Manchester has an airport rail service, Birmingham and East Midlands Airports a rail parkway each, but Leeds-Bradford not even that. Meanwhile, the London lobby wants an Estuary 4 or a Heathrow 3 to meet forecast demand and the Howard Davies Commission is trying to work out what’s best.
A North-North divide
There is a further divide within the UK economy. What might otherwise be one major northern economic region is divided by the Pennine Moors and Peaks. The old city-to-city rail routes through this barrier do not help. Electrifying their twists and tunnels only sets the divide in stone. So the North needs a Plan B rail scheme too.
A Leeds-Manchester Crossrail Because of the Pennine divide, the UK’s closest but most separate big cities are Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield. The northern economy would gain if these cities were better connected. The NorthStart scheme would do this with a high speed commuter Crossrail from Manchester Victoria to Leeds, tracking the M62 Motorway eastwards from Rochdale, with a commuter stop for Huddersfield/Halifax at M62 J24. It would bring step-change
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improvements in the rail journey times and capacities between the major urban zones west and east of the Pennines.
Next, a Plan B route to Brum Given the cost, the UK taxpayer needs a more productive high speed route from London to Birmingham. The NorthStart route connects the research power of Cambridge to the financial markets of London and the manufacturing capacity of the West Midlands. It runs north from the growing Stratford interchange, follows the Lea Valley line to beyond
Harlow, then crosses the M11 to follow it to Stansted and Cambridge before tracking the congested A14 to Kettering- Corby and Coventry on its way into Birmingham, using the last few miles of the HS2 route. The scheme’s high speed EMUs would continue west beyond Wolverhampton to Telford.
An East Midlands focus The obvious place for the two NorthStart routes to meet would be next to (or under) the East Midlands Airport terminal. If given chords towards
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