Rail improvements needed as well as HS2

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TRAIN links between Redditch and Birmingham need to be improved to allow the borough to take full advantage of the new high speed rail link between Birmingham and London.

Redditch MP Karen Lumley hailed the decision to give the go-ahead to the HS2 project which she said would create new jobs and investment in the region which would benefit the borough.

Transport minister Justine Greening announced on Tuesday (January 10) the creation of a new high speed rail route between Birmingham and London at a cost of £17billion. It will cut journey times between the second city and the capital from 1hr 24 minutes to just 49 minutes and should be ready by 2026 which work on a further extension to Manchester to follow after.

Plans are already on the table for a £20million scheme to build a new section of track about two miles long built just to the north of Alvechurch and running south towards Redditch as well as a second platform at Alvechurch. It will allow three trains an hour to run in both directions instead of the current half hourly service, although train journeys will still take about 40 minutes.

Mrs Lumley said improvements were needed to the Redditch branch line and she would be taking the issue up with Network Rail and London Midland. But even without them, she insisted HS2 was still good news for the borough.

"We do need to look at how we can make it quicker to get from Redditch to Birmingham but HS2 is going to bring economic development and jobs to the Midlands," she said.

"I have always believed we must invest in travel connections to ensure faster and more convenient journeys between our major cities and this is how we will support our companies to make Britain and especially the West Midlands the best place in the world to do business in.

"This has to be good news for our region and for Redditch. We will now see travel times slashed to Birmingham and the airport being made far more accessible from London."

Campaigners against HS2, which will cut through large swathes of countryside particularly in neighbouring Warwickshire, insist the scheme remains without merit.

Graham Long of the Ladbroke Action Group – one of 70 campaign groups against the scheme – said: "It is the wrong answer to an undoubted transport infrastructure problem, as it concentrates all the cash into a single area.

"People see this as just a local issue but they must realise it will cost every one of us £1,700 - yet less than one per cent of people will ever use it."