From the archives: Will Stoke get a HS2 station

This article from our archives was originally published in June 2011.  See also today’s Stoke Sentinel.

Stoke on Trent City council announced a couple of days ago that they are going to bid for station on the HS2route: it’s expected to pass close to them.

The question is, would they get one?

Way back in November, David Cameron listed in the Telegraph the places where they planned HS2 stations –

“We can’t put a stop in every constituency – the whole point about high-speed rail is that it’s got to go fast.

“So, it’s going to stop in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, with one or two extra stops along the way – no more.”

However, the current consultation documents already show two extra stops, in “South Yorkshire” and “East Midlands”.

So it looks like the extra stops have already been chosen – or the people there are being misled by the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd.

And lets face it, HS2 Ltd rejected Milton Keynes for a station, because too many people would use it.  Then they rejected the route that would pass near Milton Keynes, making any bid for a station from Milton Keynes impossible to succeed.

Instead, when they selected the route that passed close to Aylesbury Vale Parkway station, they rejected building a station near Aylesbury because too few people would use a station there.

Maybe Stoke on Trent has the precise number of potential users that makes it a suitable candidate in HS2 Ltd’s eyes.

But even then, they shouldn’t rely on Philip Hammond’s support.  He told one of the local Staffordshire papers “I don’t operate in a world where people only support a piece of national infrastructure if there’s something in it for them.”

And as for the East Midlands stop, suggested for between Derby and Nottingham.  I suspect if the people of Derby were asked whether they’d want a station in twenty years time, which might heal the “north-south divide”, or jobs building Thameslink trains now, they pick the jobs now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/16/bombardier-at-risk-after-loss-of-thameslink-deal

One comment to “From the archives: Will Stoke get a HS2 station”
  1. UK Govt to question HS2 Managing Director on rail project viability

    The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will next week take evidence from Alison Munro the Managing Director of HS2 and David Prout, Director General of the HS2 Group at the Department for Transport.

    The Committee’s questions will focus on whether the £50bn projected budget for HS2 is realistic and achievable, how far the Department have considered alternatives to HS2 and whether time savings will be lost because of the out of town location of the proposed stations.

    The proposed rail project, which is envisage would stretch from London and go out of the capital city to Northern cities such as

    They will also hear from Professor Henry Overman, Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE. In this session questions will focus on Professor Overman’s criticism of KPMGs predictions for HS2’s wider economic benefits, how economic growth delivered by HS2 is likely to be divided between London and other cities and regions and how this growth will be achieved.

    The evidence sessions will start at 3pm on Tuesday 28 October in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords. Professor Overman’s session will start at 3pm, the second session with Alison Munro and David Prout is expected to start around 4pm.

    The evidence session is open to the public. Anyone wishing to attend should go to Parliament’s Cromwell Green Entrance and allow time for security screening. You can watch the session live on the internet at http://www.parliamentlive.tv

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