Birmingham’s proposed high speed rail link with London would generate £1.5 billion-a-year for the city when it opens in 2022, according to backers of the project.
Key stakeholders in the development plan, including Centro and Birmingham City Council, have revealed detailed plans on how the city can benefit from the new high speed route to London.
Geoff Inskip, chief executive at Centro, said that up to 22,000 new jobs would be created by the project, adding that the high speed link offered a chance to revolutionise local rail services, generating £1.5 billion annually to the local economy.
“It’s impossible to over-estimate how important this can be for the West Midlands,” he told a group of more than 100 professionals from Birmingham’s biggest law, accountancy and construction firms.
“At the moment our railway network is full, we can’t physically get anymore local trains on the tracks.
“We have to do something new, and high speed rail is the solution. It will enable us to free up the West Coast Mainline to benefit local people.”
The new rail link has been backed by the coalition Government, but the lobby against the project has raised concerns that people using local services will suffer as a result of the high speed service.
“We need to improve not only our links to other cities, but transport here in the West Midlands,” Mr Inskip said.
“High speed rail offers us that chance. These are not trains, they are more like aeroplanes on wheels, they travel at fantastic speeds and provide an experience unlike anything in this country. This is what will take people from their cars, to the railway network.
“In construction terms, 2022 is just around the corner, we want to start building now, creating the investment framework to make Birmingham the country’s rail hub, not just to London but on to Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Scotland.”
A large part of funding the operation will be based on exploiting retail outlets at the planned Curzon Street terminal, with Mr Inskip suggesting the retail opportunities could be on a par with those seen at major international airports.
Julie Mills, from Greengauge 21, a lobbying non-profit organisation which has helped gain political support for the high speed rail network, told the Birmingham Future event that Manchester may gain more financially from the link, but that Birmingham will become the central terminus for travel from Europe to the UK.
“At the moment we have 70 miles of high speed track linking the Channel Tunnel to London, France and Spain have more than 1,000 miles, we need to catch up,” she said.
“We are aware of the widespread concerns about the effect of the track on the countryside, particularly in Warwickshire, and we will be working towards finding the most sustainable route. Everyone wants a station, but no-one wants the track, so there’s a long way to go.”
Councillor Tim Huxtable, Birmingham's cabinet member for transport, said: “For every one pound we spend, this high speed rail link will provide three pounds of additional benefits and inward investment.
“Our aspiration is for Birmingham to be the centre of this national network, just as it was at the heart of the canal network in the 19th century.”
