25th November 2014 PTRC London 1
Jim SteerDirector Greengauge 21Director HSR Industry Leaders
HS2 – more than a railway
HS2: Building in the benefits at the local level
PTRC London
Starting points
“A railway is not a strategy….” Prof Tony Ridley CBE
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HS2 Objectives
1. Capacity
Performance reliability
2. Connectivity
Economists’ construct (generalised cost)
3. Rebalancing the economy
Coalition Government policy
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More than a railway…
Transport
• Across all of the modes of transport
• In rail: not just intercity:
• freight, commuter, regional and local rail (capacity released)
• access transport
Economy
• Improve productivity
• Bring businesses closer together
• Expand labour markets
• ‘Create’ jobs?
• Change the pattern of regional growth…
Social and environmental implications too
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The wider issue
“We have a choice…cities in terminal decline, starved of infrastructure investment, poorly connected and unable to compete with developments on the urban fringes”
“Or…enable our cities to grow and prosper, with new high-speed services between the major centres, complemented by better transport within urban areas allied to decisive city planning focused on high quality and sustainability.”
Greengauge 21
Manifesto: the High Speed Rail Initiative
January 2006
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The role of HSR in a sentence
“to support a pattern of sustainable development across Britain”
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Transport
• Highways Agency capital budget £1.5bn to £3.8bn pa 2020/1
• North of England 3-4% annual traffic growth….114% increase in time loss from congestion by 2040
• M62 – managed motorway programme reaches capacity by 2028
• Airport capacity decisions?
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8
Using released capacity – the Government’s six principles (October 2013)
• Places with direct London services today – comparable or better after HS2 opens
• Additional commuter capacity
• Spread benefits to many towns and cities on existing network
• Fully integrate HS2 services into existing network
• Grow railfreight
• Improve performance with more robust timetables.
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And conversely, freeing up capacity for HSR (for Gare du Nord (illustrated) read Euston)
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Economy
1. Development around stations
Paul Deighton task force: ‘HS2 Ready’
Market response requires new planning frameworks
2. To rebalance the economy needs more than a set of rail-based business parks
City-wide
Across City Regions
Intermediate and extended network locations
3. Integrate investment and industrial policy
Build a new export sector (just like automotive)
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Thinking through sustainability does affect design and outcomes
• HSR stations work best in city centres
• That’s where the fast growing knowledge intensive jobs are
• That’s where the best access transport is
• That’s how best to support sustainable development
• Second tier cities and towns matter too
• Removing existing through services, especially to London is very unpopular and with so much more capacity should be unnecessary
• On freight
• More railfreight is the key to getting a net carbon reduction from HS2
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High speed rail
“to support a pattern of sustainable development across Britain”
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Thank you
PTRC London 1325th November 2014