Posted 4th September 2009 | 9 Comments
HS2 chief responds to Railnews call for Birmingham International Hub
Sir David Rowlands
THE head of the UK Government company planning a 250 mph high speed rail line from London to the North has suggested it should serve a parkway station near Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre - within 24 hours of Railnews publishing an article calling for the new line to pass through a new 'Birmingham International Hub.'
Paul Kehoe, Chief Executive of Birmingham International Airport, writing the Guest Opinion column in the print edition of Railnews published on 3 September, said: "Located at or very close to Birmingham International Airport, the NEC and the existing station and transport interchange, the 'Hub' would not only provide additional connectivity to those locations; it would also 'plug in' to the M42 corridor - acknowledged by the Regional Development Agency as a major economic driver of the region."
Mr Kehoe added: "It would also provide a route to additional aviation capacity in the event that the third runway at Heathrow did not go ahead - Birmingham Airport runs at less than 50 per cent capacity and thus is a valuable resource to be exploited."
Speaking to The Birmingham Post - which printed an edited version of Mr Kehoe's Guest Opinion column in Railnews - Sir David Rowlands, Chairman of the High Speed Two company, disclosed that his board had visited Birmingham earlier this week.
"It is pretty unlikely Birmingham New Street could handle traffic from a high speed service - the station is full already," he said.
"So the question would be: 'if it isn't New Street where else might it be?' Under new EU regulations, any station which is served by a high speed train must be at least 400 metres in length."
Sir David commented: "The greatest likelihood is that [Birmingham] city centre would be served by a spur line which will in turn be served by the high speed route.
"If there is going to be something at Birmingham International that will be on the high speed line itself.
"It seems less likely, to be very honest, that any high speed line would run through the centre of Birmingham - rather it would be served by a spur off the high speed line.
"That is primarily to do with the engineering challenge. I think people in Birmingham would understand how difficult it would be to run a line right the way through the city and out the other side."
Sir David added: "At the end of the year we will be very clear in our recommendations to the government where a new city centre location should be if they decided to go down that route.
"This will be down to the precise details of its location. However, I will not reveal in public yet whether that is Moor Street, Snow Hill or a new-build."
In his article in Railnews, Paul Kehoe concluded by saying: "A London-Birmingham High-Speed Rail link via the Birmingham International Hub could be the single most important thing to influence the West Midlands' economy since the London to Birmingham Railway arrived in Curzon Street, back in 1837. That's why we have to do it right."
Next Wednesday, 9 September, Emirates Airline is to operate one of its new A380 super-jumbo aircraft from Dubai to Birmingham to mark the airport's 7oth anniversary celebrations. The A380 will replace the usual Boeing 777 on the morning flight from Dubai and the afternoon return flight from Birmingham to the Emirate. This will be the first time that an A380 has operated a scheduled service at any UK regional airport.
On the same day, 9 September, the first stage of the new Dubai Metro is due to be officially opened. It will be operated by British company Serco, which operates the Docklands Light Railway and is a partner with NedRail in the operation of Northern Rail and Merseyrail services.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Stephen Cryan, Warrington
I cannot see the point of a Parkway station at all. In the case of the East Midlands it is logical as it server the airport and the surrounding three cities. However, to put a Parkway station on the outskirts of any city is self defeating - are we not green? Are we not trying to get cars off the roads? Are we not subsequently trying to get the cardrivers to use public transport?. You must think these ideas through.In Birmingham it is not an option.
I do not know Birmingham well enough to say where a city centre station can be situated but from what I have heard and read I believe that the area around (the old station) Curzon Street together with Snow Hill and Moor Street should provide enough surface area to solve the problem of any increase in rail services into Birmingham while facilitating an exit out of the city northwards(or norwesterly).
Compulsory Purchase Orders are marvellous bits of paper to use and thus solve problems. However, they must be used only when necessary and FAIRLY.
Let´s have some positive thinking on the subject.
Stephen Cryan
Peter Styles, Kingsbury, England
Running HS2 into Birmingham City Centre is not likely to be economical. The only sensible route would be to convert the existing line from Dorridge running into Moor Street which is a short distance from New Street. However, this would seriously affect Chiltern's current activities. The route north would be even more problematical. The likely line of HS2, along the M40 corridor, makes a hub at International the best solution; the NEC and the Airport are major generators of traffic already and the distance into the City Centre is only six miles.
The bigger question is what to do north of Birmingham? It appears that the decision to head for Manchester then Glasgow has already been taken. There may well be a better solution going to the East of Tamworth (rather than the West) then through Yorkshire to Edinburgh.
Anoop, Harrow
It is a good idea for the new high speed route to run via Birmingham International.
This is because the new railway should create new journey opportunities and diversionary routes as well as reduce journey times. Simply duplicating an existing route such as the West Coast Mainline is not the best use of £20 billion. It should replace as many domestic flights as possible by having good airport links. It should also aim to reduce journey times between provincial cities rather than just to and from London.
Birmingham International is a major station served by over 12 trains per hour with plenty of room for expansion. A line from London to Birmingham International would enable Londoners to take flights from Birmingham Airport and ease the strain on Heathrow. If the line continues to Newcastle via Sheffield and Leeds it will significantly reduce journey times between these northern cities, and enable trains to run even when one of the main lines (ECML, WCML, MML, HS2) is closed for engineering. There is the potential for future lines to radiate from Birmingham International to Bristol and Manchester.
Peter Reynolds, Birmingham, UK
The site behind the original Curzon Street station would have been ideal if it hadn't been sold off for redevelopment...
However, InterCity at one time were considering creating a Parkway station at Saltley where the Grand Lines cross the Derby Lines. This would give good potential connections and is only a couple of miles from the city centre.
Bordesley station is also considerably underused (except by vandals and graffiti merchants) and is practically in the city centre. A new station here would also aid considerably in the overdue regeneration of the area. There is even a partly completed link to the Stour Lines already in existence!
H T Harvey, Birmingham, UK
Birmingham city centre stations handle between 40 and 50million passdengers per year. The airport handles about 9 million and Birmingham International about 3million. Clearly the city centre is by a massive margin the real focus if activity a focus that NEC + BHX can simply not match.
It is therefore common sense to make the City the objective of any high speed route with the NEC/BHX as secondary objectives. This means it is NEC/BHX that should be on the spur and not the other way round.
New St could never be the city centre station not unless transport could be considered as a bank. Clearly International is to far from the City centre to fulfill any other role than that it currently does. The vast majority oy of passengers head for the city,the public transport system for the city, West Midlands and beyond is served by stations in the City centre. It would be shear madness to have travellers change from a high speed train at International taking about 10 to 15 minutes onto a local train taking 15 to 20 minutes to the city or to a tram (yes a tram as much as I think the the tram service should be expanded.) taking 20 to 30 minutes if not more.
Futher more taking the High Speed link direct into the city will provide capacity relief enabling improvements to local services a cahnge of train at International will simply increase the capacity problem.
A station at International will increase journey time reducing the High Speed benefit. If BHX sees itself taking Heathrow traffic then by definition the link must go via Heathrow adding further to journey time. This being the case and assuming a station at say Euston the total journey time City to City would be well over the hour.
We must therefore have a direct route London to Birmingham city centre with sours to Heathrow and BHX. The airline industry could then set up a company to run its own (under open access) direct trains Heathrow to BHX and beyond.
Other operators could provide the direct non stop city to city service.
As for a staion in Birmingham city centre. Luckily there are other sites close to the centre of Birmingham (all less than the 8miles away of International) on which a four platform high speed link station could be built. The sites could serve routes to the South, North East, North West and Scotland.
Yes lets have both stations, but with the emphasis on a direct non stop centre to centre service. If the decision is one then perhaps the airport could spend some of the money it will save from not having to extend its runway on providing its own spur off a direct route, improvement to International station and via a link up with Heathrow and airlines a High speed railservice of their own.
Joseph Pestell, Newbury, UK
It is not just about Elmdon Airport, it is about the massive traffic generator that is the NEC.
Also, having 4 trains per hour running up the new HS2 just as far as a branch to Birmingham is a waste of expensive track capacity for all points north of there.
Reality is that most inter-city journeys do not originate in city centres but at peoples' homes - mostly in the suburbs. So a Parkway station is likely to be more accessible to them (whether by car or by public transport) than a new city centre station in Birmingham.
leslie burge, leicester, england
Why is the uk government hooked on slowing down high speed lines to fit in with airports .as previously said most airports already have good rail-links
so new lines to them are irrelevant particularly when you consider that railways
should be replacing most internal and near continental travel.
Michael Weinberg, Milton Keynes, UK
Having hi-speed line stations at airports does not seem sensible to me.
Birmingham airport is already served by a good rail service from the surrounding area, and anywhere further afield will not be an attractive proposition to air travellers.
Passengers for London, Manchester Glasgow etc,. wont fly to Birmingham and get a train, they'll fly to their destination.
Where this has been tried abroad it has not been a notable success.
Much better to have the station as near to Birmingham city centre as possible, where most of the people and connecting trains are.
And relying on a parkway for passengers may well prove to be an unfortunate decision in the light of ever increasing fuel costs.
H T Harvey, Birmingham, UK
I will comment upon this article further but for the moment I cannot see the relevance of the last two paragraphs ie
'Next Wednesday, 9 September, Emirates Airline is to operate one of its new A380 super-jumbo aircraft from Dubai to Birmingham to mark the airport's 7oth anniversary celebrations. The A380 will replace the usual Boeing 777 on the morning flight from Dubai and the afternoon return flight from Birmingham to the Emirate. This will be the first time that an A380 has operated a scheduled service at any UK regional airport.
On the same day, 9 September, the first stage of the new Dubai Metro is due to be officially opened. It will be operated by British company Serco, which operates the Docklands Light Railway and is a partner with NedRail in the operation of Northern Rail and Merseyrail services.'
Except to ask who is getting free air miles?
or is HasRail News Editorial thoughts of changing allegiance?