Wednesday 19 August 2009

Over £30bn of benefits could be generated from a high-speed rail network serving Sheffield and Leeds, a new report published today concludes.

Commissioned by Metro and the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive in response to the Government's formation of the High Speed 2 Company, the report has been prepared by Arup with economic specialist Volterra. It states that a high-speed rail link via Yorkshire could provide between £1.5bn and £3bn of productivity benefits to the economy in addition to transport benefits of around £29bn.

Download the high-speed rail report (pdf, 228k)

Improved efficiency and competitiveness

These additional, agglomeration benefits, resulting from the improved efficiency and competitiveness gained by better connecting people to each other, are those that have been cited as a way of gauging a project's potential for success by Sir David Rowlands who heads up High Speed 2.

High-speed rail links with London, Heathrow and mainland Europe through the Channel Tunnel network would, the report says, be able to stimulate a transformational change in the economic performance and standing of the northern cities. They would provide a gateway to national and international business travel with meetings in the capital no longer taking up a whole day.

Enhancing existing lines

Arup and Volterra also found that a network of high speed rail routes serving the main cities in the north would address the under-performance of existing links and provide capacity for substantial growth. Enhancing the existing East Coast and Midland Main Lines would generate over £1bn of benefits to the country in addition to the usual transport benefits.

"We believe that a high-speed route to Sheffield and Leeds would bring massive economic benefits, which would provide a boost to all the North's main centres," said Leeds City Council co-Leader and Chairman of the Leeds City Region Board, Cllr Andrew Carter.

"However we are also working with the Northern Way and bodies across the North of England to highlight what could be achieved by improvements to existing north-south and trans-Pennine rail routes, not least because they can be delivered significantly more quickly," he added.

"It is clear that a high-speed rail network serving the north of England and Scotland is vital and wherever it goes it will bring significant benefits to all our cities and their economies," said David Young, Director of Customer Experience at SYPTE.

"But it is incumbent upon the Department for Transport, and Transport Minister Lord Adonis, to specify a whole network that taps into the potential of all our northern cities," he warned. "One which achieves the most rather than one which simply appears most achievable."