Regions urge 'green light' for HS2 eastern leg

摘要

THE leaders of Nottinghamshire and Leeds City Councils have described HS2's eastern leg to Leeds as "pivotal" to providing rail freight capacity in the region. In a letter to the Prime Minister in July, Ben Bradley and James Lewis wrote: "The best and most effective way of releasing the additional capacity for freight and local and regional passenger services is the delivery of the HS2 eastern leg as currently designed, as soon as possible." It follows disquiet about delays in delivery of the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), and suggestions that Phase 2b to Leeds (the eastern leg of the planned 'Y'-shaped network) may be put back. The western leg of Phase 2b is to run between Crewe and Manchester. "We are calling for the Government to publish an IRP which recognises freight's vital role in local, regional and national economies by committing to the delivery of the eastern leg of HS2, and gives the green light to move to the delivery and implementation stage as soon as possible," wrote Bradley and Lewis. The concerns follow comments by HS2 Chief Executive Mark Thurston at a session of the House of Commons Transport Select Committee on July 14, in which he said that his company was currently only working on Phase 2b West.