Council urges Government to back additional HS2 services at Crewe
Cheshire East has called on the Government to back an option for Crewe’s station to provide three high-speed trains per hour each to London, Manchester, and Birmingham.
At a cabinet meeting today, the council will put forward its response to the Crewe Hub consultation, launched by the Government in July this year, and which runs until 12 October.
The Government’s current case for the Crewe Hub assumes two HS2 trains per hour to London, but the council has called for additional hourly services, arguing that more trains could help to support 7,100 extra homes and an additional 5m sq ft of commercial floorspace in the town.
The consultation proposes three different options for the station – one which provides high-speed service connection to Crewe, Liverpool, and London, another which would add an additional connection to Liverpool, and a third which would include five trains north and seven trains south per hour.
Cheshire East backed the third option, arguing that there was an “overwhelming case” for the third proposal and that the two other options for the station would offer “limited HS2 connectivity for Crewe”.
Cheshire East also recommended a plan to safeguard a stopping service at Crewe on at least one of the hourly London to Manchester services.
Under the council’s preferred option, journey times to Manchester would be reduced to 21 minutes, while journey times to Birmingham would be reduced to 28 minutes. Journey times to and from London would also be cut to 55 minutes.
The third option would also increase Crewe’s GVA to an estimated £2.9bn by 2043, up from £1.1bn in 2017.
HS2 is all about connectivity, so this has to be a good thing coming from Crewe and with more trains and cities connected we can’t disagree, if it’s more services for Liverpool then full steam ahead!
By Seat by the Window
This is needed! A couple of the Manchester/Airport services should stop at Crewe to benefit Manchester-Holyhead/Chester/Welsh Borders connectivity. Crewe could become a national hub. It has 6 rail lines running into it. No brainer.
By A northern railway
Yes and give Liverpool the service it deserves.
By Eat more pies
Liverpool being the only major English city left out of this project is prejudicial. If Sheffield is connected than it should be a no-brainer Liverpool is.
By Elephant
Liverpool such an amazing and growing vibrant city should truly be connected it’s vital if the North truly wants to grow because without Liverpool the North would be one pretty boring place,
By Ronnie
Where do you get your figures from ? Manchester isn’t that far away to start with and you can already get too London in just over an hour so what are you gaining for the billions you are going to spend plus the loss of ancient woodlands all along the proposed route ?????
By Rob Beddow
All this only works if HS2 calls actually at Crewe station, if it’s a Crewe ‘Parkway’ that has been mentioned, that takes half an hour to get to, it negates the entirety of this project
By .
@Ronnie hahaha
By Welshie
Factually incorrect Elephant.
Lime Street will receive classic compatible HS2 trains from day 1. In fact Liverpool will have a better service than Cardiff, Bristol, Nottingham and many other cities which will have no HS2 service at all.
By Sleeper
Sleeper, those cities are not Liverpool as you well know.Even though I live in Manchester,I have to admit that Liverpool is after London, England’s,if not Britain’s most iconic city.It is our most famous port and once our greatest trading city.It seems to me that Liverpool is treated like it doesn’t exist.
By Elephant
@sleeper, Yes true, but not as fast as it’s rival cities in the North and that’s what we are discussing here the North.
By Oh Mr Porter!
Yes Sleeper, Liverpool Lime Street will have a better service than Llanfachreth, Ballickmoyler and Aberfeldy, which will receive no HS2 service at all. This is important to remember.
By Mike
So we’re agreed that Liverpool will, in fact, receive HS2 services direct to Lime Street from day 1 and that Liverpool will therefore benefit from the project unlike many other important cities with similar or greater economic potential. Glad to correct this misconception.
By Sleeper
@sleeper, seems you’.ve been asleep too long! Bristol among other areas along the GWR, are about to feel the benefit of an £8bn investment, or dosen’t that count? Come on old chap, try to keep on track and with things and don’t knock our ideas off the rails.
By Oh Mr Porter!
@Porter that’s the equivalent of transpennine electrification and franchise renewal, replacing old IC125 stock. It’s not a transformational project like HS2. Liverpool however will benefit from both.
By Sleeper
Yeah we know! but HS2 would not be justified would it to the short distance to Bristol?, if it costs £8bn for a normal line as you say, what would the cost be for a HS line?
By Seat by the Window
@window £8bn is the cost of complete electrification, new rolling stock and signalling all the way to Cardiff. Not sure what all this has got to do with Liverpool which will receive (equivalent) transpennine renewal as well as HS2 investment. Liverpool is therefore doing much better than Bristol or Cardiff.
By Sleeper
The important thing is that some Manchester-London and Scotland-London services need to stop at Crewe, otherwise Crewe will only get two London services per hour, which hardly qualifies it as a “hub”. The problem is that, in spite of all the rhetoric, HS2 remains obsessed with speed and journey-times at the expense of every other consideration. Thus I fully expect that Crewe-to-London will only ever be served by horribly crowded Liverpool / Preston trains, whilst half-empty “Bankers’ Expresses” whizz merrily past, twenty feet beneath the platforms. Lunacy.
By Moomo