Lichfield’s MP has asked the Secretary of State for Transport to look again at whether a new high speed rail route is needed to ease congestion on trains in the future.
Michael Fabricant’s email to Philip Hammond comes after claims that capacity can be increased by 135 per cent on existing lines – five per cent under the projected rise in passenger numbers.
The HS2 Action Alliance believe that the figures mean the new high speed route would not be required.
Mr Fabricant has forwarded the campaign group’s figures to the Department for Transport and asked them to clarify the numbers after admitting that he was “personally doubtful” that demand would rise by 140 per cent.
The Conservative MP explained:
“A research paper prepared by the HS2 Action Alliance proposes a series of solutions including lengthening trains to 12 cars, improving signalling, relieving pinch points on the route, and increasing the number of – and lengthening – platforms at some stations. They calculate that by making these changes, passenger capacity can be increased by around 135 per cent using existing track. If this is the case, HS2 will not be necessary to relieve a future north-south rail gridlock.
“However, I know that in the past, the HS2 Action Alliance have got some of their sums wrong and that is why I am asking the Department of Transport to check them out rigorously. But if they are right, and alternative solutions to HS2 can be found to relieve future rail grid-lock, this will be a powerful argument against the damage to our countryside and the natural environment caused by the construction of HS2.”
The HS2 Action Alliance figures come as pro-HS2 lobbyists predicted that the new line would free up capacity on existing routes.
