The county and city councils have unveiled a 25-year strategy to improve rail services and boost Leicester and Leicestershire’s economy.
Proposals include a connection onto the Government’s HS2 High Speed route, to improve links across the country and boost the local economy by at least £40 million per year.
Drawn up for Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and the Leicester and Leicestershire Economic Partnership (LLEP), the report outlines rail priorities up to 2043, to persuade the Government and rail companies to fund further improvements to the county’s rail network and services.
The Midland Main Line is due to be electrified by 2023 and the HS2 high speed route – which will have just one East Midlands station, proposed for Toton, Nottinghamshire – is due to open by 2033.
The report explains how putting the strategy in place would lead to a much wider range of improved and new direct rail services to and from Leicester station, including:
- Cutting journey times from Leicester to London on the Midland Main Line to under an hour
- Using “classic compatible” trains through Leicester and Leicestershire on the Midland Main Line and then onto HS2 at Toton, to “radically improve” links to and from places in the North such as Leeds, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow. It would also open up the possibility for links to places in the Thames Valley area, such as Reading.
- The potential for a new direct link to Coventry, where currently passengers have to change at Nuneaton.
- Possibly reducing journey times to Birmingham, Manchester and Peterborough.
We didn’t support HS2, when it looked like there would be all pain and no gain for the county – especially if it worsened our Midland Main Line connections to London.
However, this study shows that Leicester and Leicestershire could benefit, by becoming the hub of a faster, better-connected rail network.
The potential economic benefit to Leicester and Leicestershire could be at least £40 million per year, by encouraging firms to locate to Leicestershire, due to its faster rail links.
It is important this doesn’t come at the expense of reductions to the quality of Leicester and Leicestershire’s existing rail connections, especially direct and frequent services to London. We must not lose the vitally important economic benefits of fast and frequent Midland Main Line services.
We will lobby the Government, HS2 Ltd and Network Rail to seek to ensure that HS2 delivers real rail improvements and economic benefits for Leicester, alongside continued high quality services on an electrified Midland Main Line.
Person:County council leader, Councillor Nick Rushton
Leicester City Mayor Peter Soulsby said:“Leicester currently benefits from a very important fast and frequent service to London, and although its links to Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield are also good, fast and direct connections to other cities are very limited.
“I particularly want to see improved links to Coventry and the West Midlands - the day to day destinations that are the most significant to the people who live and work in our region.
"Of course we want to encourage new, fast rail services to key destinations such as Manchester, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Scotland, but it’s the routine journeys that need to be made a priority.
"It is crucial that HS2 is designed now to accommodate these new services. A key priority is to lobby hard for a physical connection between the HS2 line and the Midland Mainline.
"It is also vital to our economy that the quality of the train service between Leicester and London on the Midland Main Line doesn’t suffer once HS2 has opened.
"I am determined that our current fast and frequent London services will not only be protected, but also enhanced and I will be seeking a commitment from Government on this.”
Work is continuing to investigate the possible reopening of the Leicester-Burton freight line to passenger traffic and a separate report will be presented to the county council’s cabinet when that is complete.
The draft rail strategy will be discussed at Leicestershire County Council’s cabinet when it meets at 2pm on March 1, the report is available online.
Rail industry bodies, business groups and neighbouring councils are due to be consulted on the draft strategy, before it is finalised later this year.
The draft strategy has cost £40,000, shared between the partners.