Lichfield campaigners have rejected claims that the city will benefit from a new high speed rail line.
The pro-HS2 lobby group Greengauge 21 produced a report claiming that freeing up capacity on the West Coast Main Line will allow new passenger and freight services to be introduced.
However, Lichfield Action Group (LAG) have criticised the Capturing the Benefits of HS2 document as a “fabrication based on fantasy”.
An LAG spokesman said:
“Greengauge21 say that because of the speed-up and expansion of the non-stopping longer-distance services due to the last upgrade, the opportunities to serve areas of strong population growth along the WCML corridor have been foregone. The report says Lichfield will get a high-speed service thanks to spare capacity being freed up by HS2, but the city already has a regular high-speed service.
“Greengauge 21 claim that Lichfield only has fast services in peak periods. They haven’t read Virgin’s timetable which clearly show you can catch trains to London every hour outside peak times and be there in 94 minutes, including a change.
“So the best they can offer Lichfield for the many billions of pounds HS2 will cost is 20 minutes off the time. And Greengauge 21’s promise of extra services gives no indication of how they will be paid for.”
The Lichfield campaingers have urged people to look abroad before accepting any future view of rail services after a high speed rail line is built.
The spokesman continued:
“If HS2 is a success what need will there be for freed-up capacity? They know that the real effect of HS2 would be to reduce demand on the conventional network which, in order to avoid spiralling subsidies, would then be cut, as they have been in other countries where high-speed lines have been built.”
