Stoke thrown high-speed lifeline by HS2 boss

STOKE-on-Trent’s lobbying to be included on the HS2 high-speed rail map appears to have had some impact.

A station in Stoke-on-Trent as part of the project – which will link London and Birmingham via 225mph trains from 2026 and create further high-speed links to Manchester and Leeds six years later – “has not been ruled out”, HS2 chief executive Alison Munro said.

The Government’s preferred route for the second phase of the line, linking Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds, includes a spur junction at Crewe, but no stop at Stoke-on-Trent.

But the city’s council has submitted a bid to have an HS2 ‘stop’ based there and council leader Mohammed Pervez said the benefits to Stoke-on-Trent if the bid is successful would be huge and would put the city within 55 minutes travelling time of London.

A decision is due later this year.

Meanwhile, an anti-HS2 protest group in the Coventry area says current rail services will be lost in the city and surrounding areas as a result of the high-speed rail project.

Quoted in the Coventry Telegraph, HS2 Action Alliance’s local campaigns director Peter Chegwyn said: “The Government’s own report shows that Coventry will lose out under HS2. Far from getting an improved rail service under HS2, Coventry will suffer from service cuts with London-bound travellers facing longer journey times.

“Rail travel between Coventry and London will be slower, not faster, as a result of the HS2 rail plan.”