HS2 Ltd has responded sensitively and positively to the challenge of serving South Yorkshire. Out goes the idea of a lofty station out of town at Meadowhall. In comes serving Sheffield city centre at the existing rail/supertram hub (Midland), as Greengauge 21 has previously suggested.
“The preferred approach put forward by HS2 Ltd today brings major cost savings as well as bringing HS2 to the heart of the city of Sheffield” said Greengauge 21 Director Jim Steer. “It means that across the North, all the cities served by HS2 will have central locations rather than parkways. It also means that the North East will get slightly faster HS2 services – and can be directly connected to Sheffield too”. HS2 Ltd is to be congratulated.
He added that the new HS2 Ltd report opens up some of the key ambitions of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ including transformed connectivity between Leeds and Sheffield. It also paves the way for HS2 services to go directly to additional towns and cities including Barnsley, Wakefield and Bradford’. “The economic and regeneration benefits of HS2 can be further widened” said Jim Steer.