High Speed Rail presents a major opportunity for the future prosperity of the West Midlands. The Coalition Government has confirmed their commitment to build a high speed rail network to the North, Scotland and Wales, including direct links to Heathrow and Europe via HS1 and the Channel Tunnel.
As a first step they have asked HS2 Ltd[1] to undertake a programme of work for developing a proposition for a first phase of the network via a line from London to the West Midlands (including stations in Birmingham City Centre and in the vicinity of Birmingham International Airport and NEC) through to the West Coast Main Line close to Nuneaton with links to Heathrow and HS1.
Making the regional case for High Speed Rail
Partners from across the West Midlands – including Advantage West Midlands, Birmingham City Council, Centro and regional Chambers of Commerce – have been working since 2007 to make the case to Government for a High Speed Rail link in the West Midlands.
GreenGuage21 was jointly commissioned by West Midlands partners to research, develop and promote the concept of a national High Speed Rail network and build a solid evidence base that sets out the transport and economic benefits.
Alongside this, Advantage West Midlands, working with Birmingham City Council and Centro, also commissioned regional research to examine the benefits of High Speed Rail, including an exhaustive round of economic impact assessment, a survey of regional business opinions - PDF - 430kb and an assessment of Birmingham station options.
The West Midlands Shadow Joint Strategy and Investment Board (JSIB) has unreservedly committed their support to the proposed development of the high speed rail link between London and the West Midlands.
West Midlands partners will continue to work together to understand more fully the economic and environmental implications of High Speed Rail and identify ways to address them.
The benefits of High Speed Rail for the region
• High speed rail will boost Birmingham City Centre’s economy by at least £1.23 billion, and the wider West Midlands Metropolitan area by £2.5 billion.
• The construction of the high speed rail link is expected to create 1,600 jobs, with a further 2,400 jobs created to operate the London to West Midlands rail connection once established.
• The West Midlands is ideally located to provide the maintenance and storage facilities required to support a future national high speed rail network given our central location. This would generate significant additional investment and jobs (both directly, and through the local supply chain utilising the West Midland’s existing rail cluster network).
• As the national network is established, redistribution of employment to the region from areas of the UK that are less well served could lead to employment growth by up to 60,000 to 70,000 and Gross Value Added (GVA) leap by close to 6% in the West Midlands.
• Public sector, finance and business, hospitality and manufacturing are expected to be main sectors benefiting from the development of the line.
• A Birmingham Chamber led survey of regional businesses indicated strong private sector support for the high speed rail link;
- 88% of respondents indicated that the West Midlands economy would benefit from a London to West Midlands high speed rail link, a further 86% felt the region would benefit from a national network
- 56% of respondents indicated that a London to West Midlands link would be of direct benefit to their business, and 53 % felt they would directly benefit from a national network
- 88% of respondents indicated that reduced journey times to London would be of benefit to their business, 57% indicated high speed rail will generate new market opportunities for their business, and 64% thought high speed rail will attract additional inward investment.