A new five-mile railway line in the Midlands could effectively connect Yorkshire onto HS2 and cut journey times between Sheffield and London by 30 minutes, a report has suggested. A new paper has been published by independent transport policy research group Greengauge 21 which says building a short conventional speed railway line to join the HS2 ‘main line’ to existing railway from Birmingham to Derby could have major benefits for connectivity in Yorkshire.
It comes weeks after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander formally lifted safeguarding on the scrapped HS2 Eastern leg route which had originally been due to run to Leeds before being downgraded and then fully cancelled – with her decision effectively ending any possibility of the route being revived.
But the new report from Greengauge 21 highlighted that provision is still being made for a junction – or ‘spur’ – pointing east on HS2 in the West Midlands which is envisaged to accommodate the connection of a future ‘conventional speed’ railway to HS2.
The report said: “Although this instruction passed without stirring wider public interest, we believe this is an important shift, and one which can ensure that cities on the east side of England can in future get a valuable economic boost from HS2, as well as those on the western side.
"At the expected location of this planned junction on HS2, the existing Birmingham-Derby main line is within five miles distance. It raises the possibility of a much lower cost means of providing an effective ‘Eastern Arm’ using the HS2 line to London.
“The opportunity created would be for a Leeds-Sheffield-Derby-London HS2 service using existing stations in these Yorkshire and East Midlands cities, using existing lines and the new connecting line of some five miles length to reach HS2."
