Will Stoke get a HS2 station

Stoke on Trent City council announced a couple of days ago that they are going to bid for station on the HS2 route: 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

24 comments to “Will Stoke get a HS2 station”
  1. Sorry I don`t work for the UK goverment or its patsy HS2. The longer the rail-layers delay, the more they invite us the people to do their job for them. Staying silent is not part of democracy. The line out for consultation links, into the existing rail track just north of our Cathedral city of Lichfield; that will be a bottle neck. Which will feed into the existing bottelneck at Colwich, Staffordshire. And then a bit further south will be the next bottelneck for the Leeds Line. Clearly buying cheap land is a bargin. Morris please write to the “Sentinel”, as we all have the right to publish our views in a democracy. And your views are as valued as can be, while the line-layers keep mum. Please also look at the HS2 brochure which shows a tunnel rail line going from Old Oak Common North West under Harrow and Watford.and going on off the brochure map. See: `Connecting to Heathrow` HS2 Brochure.This brochure is highly significant. as it also shows an orange line going from Ickenham to Gerrards Cross and continuing Westward off the map edge. Alas, HS2 people have not put a key on this brochure map in their `Connecting to Heathrow` brochure. Penny, please respond, thanks.

    • yes but the inforation you have given is for the 1st part of HS2. and stoke willbe in the 2nd part of the route to be built. There is no route yet in the documents for this. So how do you know wher that staion (i hope) will be built

  2. Morris the Stoke Station will be on the east side of the A53 at Endon, turn off by the Methodist Church. Someone has already bought the fields, alas, That`s my current position on the station.

    • Did you look in your crystial ball about the station, last time I check the route has not be defined so how can you say that the station will be a Endon or do you work for HS2 and know somethiing I dont. If we get a station its more likly to be around the Stone area which will allow connections to the extisting network.

  3. Please, Please, build the station and unlike most of the people that have made a comment so far about this I live in Stoke, unlike you. So please build the line and station we need it.

    • Cant see it happening tbh Morris…..currently Stoke on Trent station has a passenger throughput of 2 million passengers per year. Comapre this to Milton Keynes which has twice as many. Of course service levels will not drop as capacity will be released on the WCML anyway. You may find a parkway station not too far away though……detail plans are not due to be finalised by HS2 until next year.

      • I never thought I would say this …… but I agree with Gary ! There is very little chance of there being a new station serving Stoke .

        The reason is quite simple and became clear after a very long conversation with Alison Munro at the Kenilworth roadshow .

        The HS2 Ltd argument is totally driven by Benefit Cost Ratio . The headline number ( including those things “agglomeration” and “imperfect competition” — by the way even she couldn’t explain to me what they were ( so don’t worry that you couldn’t , Gary )) is 2.0 for HS2 and a little more once the full Y network is factored in . Because of the extremely high value attributed to the value of time ( £ 48.64 per hour for business travel , less for leisure travel ) the BCR that is the highest is going to be the one with the quickest journeys . That is why it is route 3 ( one of the more damaging ones for the environment ) that was chosen . Even 10 minutes would completely screw up the BCR .

        That is why Stoke ( which by the way I think is a great place ) isn’t going to get a station , the “economics” won’t stand the trains slowing down and then stopping for a few minutes at an extra station .

  4. As Andrew Adonis says “everyone wants the stations, but no-one wants the line”. If Stoke gets a station then they will support HS2, if they don’t they will oppose it.

    Philip Hammond has been actively seeking support from those places which will have stations. A while ago Theresa May was reportedly attempting to drum up support in County Durham, saying that they should support HS2 because it could mean work for the Hitachi train factory there.

    Mr. Hammond, contrary to what he says, actually behaves like he does live in a world where people only support a piece of national infrastructure if there’s something in it for them.

  5. Ms Joan Walley, Stoke North MP, is a railway expert. Stoke Council is now Labour, and no BNP. Stoke Labour Councillors want the railway only because they dream of a station so they can say> “Lead us into stoke-on-trent-station”, as their prayer. I feel the route will go to the east of Stoke, between Endon and Longsdon. And go nowhere near Stafford. Then up to the east of Congleton, and then swing west below Macclesfield to miss the Peak Park, and then onward to the airport south of Manchester and then split .One veering off to congested west coast main line: the other on stilts aiming for Manchester city centre.

  6. Yes the anti HS2 campaigners have a plan, why not ?
    When the government are using scurrilous tactics to silence opposition, ‘consulting’ along the route, but then analysing where the responses come from so they can ignore ‘nimbys’. Keeping the enviromental impact quiet despite many requests for it. Spending millions promoting it, not debating it. The general public are not aware of this massive cost ( £34 thousand million !!! ) which is being promoted while they suffer hardship.
    The government have a plan too, and its not a good one !

  7. Of course Stoke on Trent is already on the WCML, and served by a pendolino service 2 times and hour to London, plus the London Midland service to London.

    HS2 initial stage connects into the WCML at Lichfield , thus allowing the service to benefit form the quicker speeds on this stretch,

    As far as the ” jobs at risk ” bit , Bombadier is actually a Canadian Company which saved the BREL works at Derby from closure a few year ago. Siemens have won the bid for Thameslink carriages , of course a major part of the criteria for bids is value for money……..

    Siemens is already one of the leading suppliers of trains on British railways and employs around 16,000 people in the UK.

    The contract will create up to 2,000 new UK jobs. This includes work being created at Siemens’ factory in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, as well as in the rail industry supply chain.

    It also includes jobs at two maintenance depots for the new trains which, subject to planning permission, will be built at Three Bridges near Crawley and at Hornsey in the London Borough of Haringey. The Thameslink infrastructure works will employ an additional 3,000 people at the height of construction.

    Those of you who watched Question Time last night would no doubt of heard the comments of Alex Salmond about how construction projects are a massive injection into the economy when the economy itself is flat or in recession. Indeed Alex Salmonds own backyard is to benefit from £1 bn of Network Rail money to improve links between Glasgow and Edinburgh…..the public consultation on this is just about to start.

  8. Is it just me or is a major plank in the anti-HS2 campaign based on simple divide and conquer tactics?

    Much of the narrative in this site is couched in terms designed principally to foster an atmosphere of naked jealously and thus hostility between different areas of the country along the planned new route – the conclusion seems to be “if we (in one town) can’t have a station near us, we’re taking our bat and ball home now!”

    Readers visiting Stop HS2 seeking mature debate based on facts are unlikely to find what they’re looking for?

    • Isn’t divide and rule Philip Hammond’s favourite tactic?

      Anyway, posting what is said by politicians like David Cameron is surely very relevant to the debate, seeing as the decision to go ahead with the hybrid bill may well be his.

      In the newspaper article, he said he’d seen the map, so he has a clearer idea then most of us that there will be stations. Or do you think he was lying?

      • Indeed Joanne….whatever is said by Mr Cameron is indeed relevant, he is the Prime Minister , which amongst other things, entitles him to use Chequers……which is close to the proposed HS2 route. Indeed, Tony Blair himself used the Church in Great Missenden…..

          • Just trying to be helpful Joanne……having the Prime Minister on your side must be a signifcant boost to what is a poor protest campaign, but hey if you think you can do without him by all means carry on….

            • You seem a bit confused Gary: the Prime Minister seems to want HS2 built (the other side of a hill from a house he occasionally makes use of). He backs up Philip Hammond.

            • Joanne…are you saying that the Prime Minister is a supporter of HS2? Bear in mind his constituency is up the road in Whitney , which has no link to HS2? Bear in mind also that 2 of the biggest financial supporters of the Tories are Lord Edmiston who made his fortune importing cars, and Chris Kelly of Keltruck, who have both lobbied the Prime Minister AGAINST HS2, and have threatened to withdraw their funding? You would have thought that the PM would have some sort of emotive view on this…….or, more likely, the PM has to do what is seen to be in the best interest of the nation??? Is that correct ??

        • The Prime Minister is on record for supporting HS2.After the budget,he said “HS2 goes ahead.”Later,the mantras repeated by the Transport Secretary…”transforming the economic geography of the country,solving the north-south divide…”etc.,etc.On the other hand,he must be a little uneasy about the strong opposition from certain powerful members of his Party.

  9. Someone needs to break the bad news to the councillors in Stoke – a Cabinet Minister has already said “HS2 wont help Stoke on Trent”.

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