First look at high speed rail station
Thursday 21st April 2011, 11:29AM BST.
With a sweeping glass roof over platforms next to a tree-lined street this is the first sketch of how Birmingham’s new high speed rail station would look.
It is part of the first £17 billion phase of the overall £32bn project to send 225 mph trains between London and Scotland.
The design has been released by Digbeth-based architect Glenn Howells and shows where double decker trains would enter the city centre in the Eastside area.
The Grade I listed frontage of the original Curzon Street station, dating back to 1838, will be used.
There will also be parkland, offices and flats. Mr Howells is responsible for revitalising Birmingham landmarks such as the Rotunda building by the Bullring and the Custard Factory.
The line, called HS2, is meant to slash journey times between London and Birmingham to just 49 minutes.
However that is a saving of only around 20 minutes on current timings — and is only between the capital and another new terminal which is set to be built near Birmingham International station.
Even supporters of high speed rail, including councillors in Sandwell, have begun to have doubts.
Councillor Roger Horton told a meeting of transport authority Centro last week that Black Country commuters would lose their 20 minute time saving because of having to change trains and use a mag-lev shuttle to get to the high speed terminal.
Centro chief executive Geoff Inskip said 22,000 jobs would be created and £1.5bn a year of investment would come to the West Midlands.
But critics believe it is unnecessary and would destroy swathes of the English countryside.
They say times for connecting services at Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street will increase by 10 minutes and the number of trains stopping in the Black Country will decrease. A national consultation runs until July 29.
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What a waste of money. A flashy building for an unviable service.
Just to remind readers I got it straight from the horse’s mouth (Phillip Hammond). There are plans afoot to discontinue direct services between Wolverhampton and London. Not, as so disingenuously stated by “Centro” in its recent pronouncement, more and faster trains.
That is the price of this folly. The further blight of the South Staffs Connurbation.
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What a complete waste of money. Hope the idea is scrapped!
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High Speed rail actually translates to slower trains for many and cancelled services – according to official rail and HS2 documents.
Besides being a waste of money compared to HS2 alternatives, no one has yet dared to place a realistic fare likely to be charged for using this monstrosity.
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I think the rebuilding of the Birmingham Train Station is an excellent idea and am looking forward to seeing clearer plans than the sketch above when they become available.
The people above seem to be mixing up rebuilding the station and the high speed rail link (which I am not in favour of). Double decker trains work really well in cities such as Amsterdam and providing issues around bridges can be resolved they seem like a good way of improving capacity in the West Midlands.
We need a better, modern station for England’s second city to help encourage use of public transport to reduce pollution and congestion from cars and that requires this sort of investment.
P.S. Can we have some constructive comments on here rather than the usual moaners please.
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Strange how the backers of these schemes trot out x thousand jobs will be created, xx millions of inward investment, but never any facts to substantiate these predictions.
Centro seem quite good at this. We have had similar projections for the extension to the Metro in Birmingham and the extension over to Merry Hill.
Until I retired I was involved in a business in Wolverhampton. The lack of this HS2 link never put off any prospective customer coming to see us. We even had people drive from eastern Europe. None ever complained about the transport infrastructure.
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Some Kent rail users have the choice of HS1 or classic trains to reach London. Many regular commuters cannot afford the 20% higher ticket prices of high speed rail. In sticking to classic trains, they find their service has become slower, less frequent and ticket prices have been increased at a greater rate than elsewhere. Over 2000 rail users signed a Downing Street petition and got their MP to raise questions in the House of Commons. (See Kentonline for more information). If HS2 is built, this is what users of classic trains on the West Coast Main Line may experience in the future. Write to your MP if you are concerned.
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Don’t suppose those posting negative comments above would care to tell us their postcodes?
I think you might find a startling correlation between proximity to the proposed new line and hostility towards HS2
For the record my postcode is SK9 7QL – look that up and you’ll find that I might be relatively close to the 2nd phase of HS2 when it’s announced later this year.
However, I’m still strongly supportive of HS2 (and the principle of High Speed Rail in general) not as a means of getting to/from London a bit faster (who wants to go there if they can possibly avoid it?) but to link the rest of the UK with the rest of Europe!
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I live nowhere near the proposed route. I do not object to the pinciple of high speed rail… in its place. I object to the bad design of the proposal. It is going to cause immense damage to the economy of the West Midlands area.
You, living on the verge of rich Alderley Edge, will probably have nothing to lose. High speed is a more viable option for larger distances and as I understand it the distance between London and Manchester is only just below the minimum distance required to enable High Speed rail to be a viable choice. London to Birmingham is well below that level.
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“the distance between London and Manchester is only just below the minimum distance required to enable High Speed rail to be a viable choice. London to Birmingham is well below that level.”
Your logic is perverse @PJW Holland –
Using your rationale (which is flawed) – in order to create a link between London and other domestic destinations far enough away to warrant High Speed Rail (HSR) will require a line to Scotland, which is ultimately where it will reach but it has to start somewhere – what do you suggest; start building the line from Glasgow/Edinburgh and hope no one notices?
Anyway, for me HS2 (and HSR in general) is not about linking Birmingham or anywhere else in the UK for that matter, with London. The very last place I’ll be travelling to on a High Speed Service out of my Region is London. HS2 (and hopefully HS3, 4 & 5 to follow) will link the rest of the UK with the rest of Europe and for that alone HS2 is worth having.
Still trying to work out which parts of the West Midlands economy HS2 will damage – how does injecting many billions of investment cause damage – please elaborate?
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Wow, what i great building cant wait until the detail scheme desgin is underway and its great to see life back at Curzon street.
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At last we’ve finally got cast iron easy to access proof that the Birmingham terminus isn’t “miles away from Birmingham city center/Birmingham New Street” but right there, next to the Bullring and 10 minutes slow walk to New Street.
To the suggestions that West Coast Main Line services would be cut and/or get slower: how exactly does a completely seperate line affect the West Coast Main Line? Services between London and Liverpool, Manchester, etc would actually not only increase but get faster as classic services use HS2 before connecting to the WCML further north. Also capacity will be freed on the midlands and southern branches of the WCML to enable MORE services between London and Milton Keyenes, Coventry and so on.
Also how exactly has HS1 affected the Kent rail network? How can there be more Javelin services and yet have the frequency of services in total decrease? How does HS1 cause trains in Kent to go more slowly. As for ticket prices I think you’ll find most commuters using South West Trains, Southern, NXEA and other suburban commuter services have seen increases in fares.
HS1 had already been budgeted for long in advance so the insinuation that Kent is somehow paying for HS1 is absolute nonsense!
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It would appear that the policy of South Eastern Rail is to encourage passengers to use Javelin trains on HS1 by making classic trains less attractive. Journey times have been lengthened by stopping at more stations than previously. Some previous services have been cut. (Search Kentonline “tickets in the commons”). Ticket prices have been increased faster than elsewhere to reduce the apparent price premium to 20%. A single peak day ticket from Ashford on a classic South Eastern train costs £25.40. A comparable ticket from Milton Keynes costs £17.50 (Virgin) or Basingstoke £19.40 (South West). All three towns are the same distance from London. By the way the Javelin train will cost you £30.40 from Ashford.
If you look at the HS2 Ltd Technical Appendix you will find at non peak times Coventry will have one train per hour to London taking 69 minutes (classic service after HS2 is running). Currently there are three trains per hour and they take 59 to 63 minutes. More examples of the poorer service we can expect can be found on the Taxpayers Alliance website in a report written by rail expert Chris Stokes (search “HS2 Capacity Analysis”).
Because Curzon Street is a ten minute walk from New Street station, much of the time gained through HS2 is lost by the time you reach your connecting train.
You can check the things I have said above. I live approximately 20 miles from the proposed route of HS2 and about 45 miles from the nearest HS2 station.
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