2019 was a critical one for HS2. There has been increased scrutiny of the project, culminating in the Government’s announcement of the Oakervee Review at the end of August, which dominated our end of year activity. Here we set out a year view of the variety of activities we have Read more…
HS2 Phase 2a’s inclusion in the Queen’s Speech is good news, and shows that we can make progress on getting HS2’s benefits to the North and smashing the north-south divide. We must now press on, get HS2 built and bring the connectivity, capacity and jobs that benefit the country. Our Read more…
Our members recognise the significant opportunities for industry that the development of high speed rail in Britain can provide. The HS2 project comes at a time when investment in the country is vital in the wake of the Brexit vote. High speed rail has the capability to bring efficiency gains Read more…
Our report HS2 North West Voices brings together a range of influential voices in the North West, outlining the “transformational benefits” HS2 – delivered “all the way” to Glasgow – will bring to the North West economy. Two of the region’s leading Conservative and Labour MPs back the report and say HS2 will ensure the country is “firing on all cylinders”
John Stevenson MP (Conservative, Carlisle) and Lucy Powell MP (Labour, Manchester Central) say:
“HS2 is vital to fundamentally addressing the North-South divide. With inequalities of prosperity and opportunity between the North and the South, connecting London all the way to Glasgow will ensure that every part of our country is firing on all cylinders. HS2 will turn great cities, like Manchester and Carlisle, into inter-connected economic powerhouses, helping us to excel into the 2020s and beyond, and it will tackle the division between North and South, bringing Britain together with the first new North-South railway in a hundred years.”
You can access the full report here: HSR Industry Leaders HS2 North West Voices Report Nov 2019
The report outlines how HS2 will “turbo charge the wider Northern economy (more…)
South Eastern and Hitachi are celebrating a decade of High Speed 1 trains. The service has revolutionised travel for passengers in Kent and helped boost the county’s economy. Launched in 2009 – in the ten years it has operated it has carried 100 million passengers to and from London, with Read more…
We welcome the new research from Midlands Connect, which shows that 73 stations on the existing rail network stand to benefit from improved passenger services as a direct result of the capacity released by HS2. Amongst the biggest winners from HS2 are the smaller towns and cities identified by today’s Read more…
London has an escalating homelessness problem, with around 3,500 rough sleepers in the capital between October and December 2018; an increase of 18% year on year. Nearly 650 homeless people have died in London over the last five years and with the life expectancy of rough sleepers around 44 years Read more…
It is our view that the GLA Conservative’s report ‘High Speed Fail: An Alternative Plan to HS2’ contains a series of flawed arguments. It perpetuates the false choice of pitting HS2 against other major projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and Crossrail 2. The choice that has been presented Read more…
High Speed Rail Industry Leaders welcomes the launch of Midlands Engine Rail – a £3.5 billion improvement programme to transform the region’s rail network – by Sub-national Transport Body Midlands Connect. The programme emphasises the essential importance of HS2 to the future of the transport network in the region, acknowledging HS2 as the backbone of the Midlands’ future plans for east-west and north-south rail passenger and freight connectivity across the region and beyond.
Made up of seven projects spanning the East and West Midlands, the programme is strategically-important in supercharging the Midlands Engine economy and is designed to drive sustainability, productivity and social mobility across the whole region. It also includes and builds upon the flagship Midlands Rail Hub scheme; aimed at boosting east-west connectivity, which was submitted to Government in June 2019. (more…)
We write to you as members of High Speed Rail Industry Leaders and the wider rail supply chain to offer you our support in your review of HS2, and make clear that we believe the scheme offers value fr money and must be delivered in full. Without completing HS2, the Read more…