HS2: Will high speed rail in fact slow us down?

Those controversies have not gone away in the months since Parliament signed off on the £106 billion line back in February.

In fact they have deepened, with some of the biggest arguments for building HS2 now looking rather flimsy in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of its few remaining selling points is that it will slash journey times between the West Midlands and London.

Proponents of the line say that by the time trains are running on it (that’s nine years from now by the latest estimate), travellers will be able to save up to half an hour off the commute between this region and the nation’s capital.

This comes with the caveat that just how much time you save depends on which station you start from – and it now appears that journey times for many commuters in the West Midlands could actually increase once HS2 goes live.

According to Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant, the opening of HS2 will have dire consequences for people who want to use faster trains on the West Coast Mainline.

During a meeting with HS2 bosses the MP says he was told that all fast trains – the Pendolino service currently run by Avanti – will be diverted away from the West Coast Mainline onto the HS2 line.

The impact of such a move would be huge on those parts of the region without a HS2 station, i.e. anywhere other than Birmingham and Stafford.

Let’s take Lichfield as an example.

'Catastrophic'

Currently there are several Pendolino trains each day from Lichfield Trent Valley to Euston, with a journey time of around one hour and five minutes.

Under the new plans, these trains would no longer run on the route, leaving commuters with two choices: take a London Northwestern train (a journey time of one hour and 37 minutes); or travel to one of the HS2 stations to connect to a HS2 service.

Both options come with significantly increased journey times, with the latter also incurring the extra cost that HS2 trains will undoubtedly carry with them.

All stations on the West Coast Mainline would be impacted, so people travelling from Wolverhampton and Sandwell and Dudley will also suffer.

A furious Mr Fabricant has tabled written questions to the Transport Secretary demanding to know precisely what the plans are fort Pendolino trains once HS2 comes along.

He said: “It will be catastrophic news for Lichfield as a commuter city if this comes to pass.

“At present many Lichfield residents commute down to London. If their fast services are to be curtailed following the construction of HS2, it will have a devastating effect on the economy of the area.

“I am raising this issue with the Secretary of State for Transport as a matter of urgency, as replacement trains for the Pendolino must be built into the system.”

Mr Fabricant added that “any place on the West Coast Mainline that doesn’t have an HS2 station will be worse off”.

Dedicated

HS2 Ltd said the firm was unable to confirm future service patterns as it was not responsible for the future timetabling of services.

Bosses insist HS2 creates the opportunity to use the existing rail network differently by placing long distance services onto their own dedicated tracks, freeing up space for more local rail services.

Using a forecasting tool to calculate demand, HS2 Ltd says Lichfield Trent Valley could gain an additional service to Euston every day, and that there will also be an extra Euston-Chester and Euston-North Wales service each day – all of which will call at Lichfield Trent Valley.

It is understood that no final decisions on the use of any released capacity have yet been taken.

HS2 Ltd says its trains will be able to carry more than 300,000 people each day, reducing overcrowding on the existing network.

But critics say the argument that we need to free up space on the West Coast Mainline no longer holds true in the Covid era, with the number of people using the railways having plummeted since the lockdown.

With the London-Birmingham section of the line set to cost the taxpayer £45bn, many people will be asking, is it really worth it?