Joined-up thinking on making HS2 work to benefit region

READERS should be aware that the formal consultation on HS2 closes at the end of the month (Yorkshire Post, January 15). Details of the consultation are at: www.hs2.org.uk. My support for HS2 is conditional on it acting as a catalyst for a genuine revolution in public transport in England with the new line supplementing and expanding the existing “classic” network.

The marketing theme to sell the scheme should be “two railways for the price of one”. Indeed if removing long distance trains from inner suburban routes allows these to develop into municipal Metro systems then HS2 might allow a “three railways in one go” approach.

Local transport authorities should be asked to identify and publicise specifically how rail services can be expanded so as to allow new stations and new links between cities and major towns as well as making it possible for cities like Leeds to operate local services at Metro style frequencies on existing and reopened suburban lines, as existing lines around cities like Leeds are “cleared” of long distance trains. Hence the existing Leeds spur of the ECML from Doncaster would become a high frequency commuter line.

I question the need for the new station at New Lane. While this station would offer easy access from motorways to the south of Leeds, proposed automated walkways will not offer the quickest possible connection from the local rail network. Instead the existing Leeds City Station could welcome HS2.

This would avoid the cost of constructing New Lane and allow for the bulk of the local Leeds suburban network to be transferred to an east-west Crossrail tunnel with new central underground stations at Leeds Eastgate, Leeds City Square (for HS2) and Leeds Westgate/Wellington Street. The objective must be for the highest percentage of passengers possible – say 80 per cent? – to access HS2 in Leeds by seamless interchange from local rail and later municipal tram networks and the extra capacity offered by Crossrail would allow for this.

Going underground permits fast direct connections between key passenger destinations rather than following more slowly a dated street pattern. It allows for future municipal trams to share tracks with regional trains. Hence it should attract substantially more passengers than other proposals such as the failed Supertram.

A chord allowing trains from York and further north to access Leeds station via the HS2 spur would release capacity on the east Leeds lines to allow for Metro frequency between Leeds and Garforth with the Wetherby line reopened. A similar chord on the western branch of HS2 will allow trains from the north to access Manchester directly. The same principle should apply in Leeds.

There is a plan for central Brisbane to construct a twin deck tunnel with buses on one level and trains on the lower level.

At the other end of the income scale the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is pressing ahead with the construction of a central area subway, as is Tel Aviv, and plans are afoot for the second line of the Nice tramway to be in tunnel. These cities have ambition. Let’s hope that local politicians here can prove equally far-sighted.