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