Wednesday 26 August 2009

In response to today's announcement by Network Rail expressing a preference for a high-speed rail link to the north west, Leeds City Council co-Leader and Chairman of the Leeds City Region Board, Cllr Andrew Carter said:

“It is important that any High-Speed Rail network extends beyond the Heathrow Midlands link and whichever route it takes it will bring massive benefits with it.

“Of course when making a decision of what routes High Speed 2 should take, Ministers are going to take into account this report by Network Rail, but they must also look closely at the findings published last week by Metro and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive

"In that report we set out the enormous economic benefits to all the North’s main centres of a route via the Sheffield and Leeds City Regions.

“The Metro and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive report, undertaken by consultants Arup, and economic specialists Volterra, put the long-term agglomeration benefits to business of a high-speed rail link serving the Leeds and Sheffield city regions as high as £3bn.

£34m additional business benefits each year

“This equates to around £34m of additional business benefits each year and thousands of additional jobs.

“These agglomeration benefits, which result from shrinking journey times between businesses and their markets, are in addition to standard transport benefits of a high speed link estimated to be around £29bn.

“While in the long-term, being part of the high-speed rail network will have a transformational effect on the economy and people of Yorkshire and its City Regions, short-term investment in existing rail routes is needed

“Our report shows that shorter journey times and more frequent trains on the East Coast Mail Lines, more frequent trains and electrification of the Midland Main Line and improved quicker TransPennine links with more capacity would also generate over £1bn of those agglomeration benefits.

“We will continue to work with bodies across the North of England including the Northern Way, to highlight what could be achieved by a high-speed link and the improvements to existing north-south and trans-Pennine rail routes, which can be delivered significantly more quickly.

“As we have said previously it is vital that Ministers and the Department for Transport plan a whole network that taps into the potential of all our northern cities.

“One which achieves the most rather than one which simply appears most achievable.”

Download the Metro and South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive report (pdf, 228k)