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MIDLANDS Connect may get what it has been campaigning for – over £2 billion from the government for a raft of improvements that should transform rail travel across the region within a decade.
The big concern now is that the funding for the Midlands Rail Hub – which is not hard cash, but future savings from the cancellation of HS2 to Manchester – is vulnerable to a raid by the Treasury. The money pot could easily be withdrawn at any time by any future government searching for savings if the UK economy fails to perform.
The DfT states guardedly: “Subject to future decisions, this first phase of the Rail Hub could be completed by the early 2030s.”
The first £123 million has been released to begin the design work. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said: “We need this kind of investment if our network is to keep growing and supporting our economy. At around £2 billion, the Midlands Rail Hub is genuinely a bargain. The Secretary of State for Transport must persuade the Treasury to support this project to boost the region’s connectivity and with it, the region’s economy.”
The consortium of 47 partner organisations heard on February 29 that the plans for the Midlands Rail Hub they set out five years ago can now go ahead. At its core are big improvements to capacity and line speeds on the CrossCountry route through Birmingham from Bristol, Hereford and Worcester to Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and Derby by 2033.
The bodies – in partnership with Network Rail – include the West Midlands Combined Authority, local authorities, LEPs, chambers of commerce, HS2, and Birmingham and East Midlands airports. They want new and improved infrastructure to “supercharge the economy by bringing the East and West Midlands closer together”.
They say their business case is based on growth. In the past two years, rail usage in the Midlands is reckoned to have grown faster than anywhere else in the UK, and 121% up in the past decade in the West Midlands and 37% up in the East. Daily freight paths can also now be increased to 36.
Midlands Connect Chairman Sir John Peace said: “The Rail Hub is a cost-effective plan to upgrade infrastructure. It must happen alongside delivering HS2 in its entirety, from the West Midlands to the East Midlands and on to the north of England. “The next prime minister of this country must not ignore the Midlands, the ten million people who live here, or our £220bn annual contribution to the UK economy. Now is the time for the government to prove to the Midlands it’s listening to us.”
