Not from Nottingham – direct trains face axe

Nottingham residents are starting to realise that the golden hopes from HS2 aren’t all that glittering after all.

A report in the weekend’s Nottingham Post, looked into the likely service levels from Nottingham station after HS2 is built. They say

HS2 Ltd predicts that only 16 trains would leave Nottingham Station for the capital each day if the new line opened in 2033, compared to an expected 30 trains a day if the plans were rejected….

Robert Parker, of Bibliofox, an independent research group, who identified the cuts to direct Nottingham to London services, said: “At the moment, the Government are assuming tickets on HS2 will be broadly the same as on today’s inter-city trains. But this seems unlikely. The UK’s other high-speed line, HS1 in Kent, charges premium prices, as do many European high-speed services.”

The reduction is not new news to Stop HS2. Last year we reported on the service level reductions expected after HS2 – and pointed out that for Nottingham, there would be a loss of a train an hour from Nottingham station.

Nottingham 2 trains an hour 1 train an hour Loss of 1 train per hour No city centre HS2 service. “East Midlands” HS2 station likely to have poor rail and bus links

What we reported last year

It’s not just about the number of trains from Nottingham station: the Nottingham Post article points out that in spite of the headline time savings from HS2 Ltd, the overall journey time will be increased, compared to travelling from the existing station.

James Jones, 43, head of customer services at Experian, travels to London at least twice a week.

He said: “For many people, the inconvenience would negate the time savings on the new line.”

And David Thornhill, chairman of Notts Campaign for Better Transport, added: “If you have to change trains, then it makes it harder to settle in to your work. No one wants that fuss. Getting to Toton is dead time.”

…HS2 Ltd forecasts a journey time of 51 minutes from Toton to London, compared with one hour, 51 minutes on the Midland mainline.

But with the time it takes to get to Toton, it will take Nottingham passengers at least 68 minutes to reach the capital – with an anticipated five-minute change at Toton after a 12-minute journey from the city centre.

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