International & UK Railway News Sunday 1st September 2013

Shedmaster Railway News

Long load on the road - Railway Gazette

Bolton Railway Station - featuring LNER A4 60009 Union of South Africa - Steam Tube



World Heritage & Railway News

Ribble Steam Railway - Membership


HS2 - Latest Statements

19th August 2013

HS2 Ltd statement on the CPRE's report.

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said:

“HS2 Ltd is still developing transport routes for the construction of the line; accordingly it is not possible to definitively say how the road network will be used. The information supplied to the CPRE is based on the most accurate assessment given the progress of the line’s design at the time. The routes highlighted in the information provided to CPRE show all roads that might be used for the construction of HS2 including those travelled by people working on the line and therefore driving by car.
HS2 Ltd is working to ensure that over 95% of excavated material is beneficially reused for the construction of the railway, including noise and visual screening, therefore reducing the need for long distance transportation.”

HS2 Ltd statement on the IEA's report.


A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said:

“The IEA report is extremely speculative and completely lacking in concrete facts. The headline £80bn figure appears to have been arrived at by lumping together transport schemes that are not part of HS2 and in some cases are many miles from the line. The report claims a theoretical and unsourced cost of £30bn for these projects, although elsewhere admits many will never be built. The IEA also fails to show how a myriad of piecemeal incremental transport schemes would address the capacity and connectivity issues that we face or how they would even come close to providing the opportunities that HS2 as an Engine for Growth will bring to the national economy. The fact is HS2 is absolutely vital for this country.  Without it the key rail routes connecting London, the Midlands and the North will be overwhelmed. This report does nothing to challenge these undeniable facts.”

27th August 2013
HS2 chief executive statement on Institute of Directors survey.

HS2 Ltd Chief Executive, Alison Munro said:

“Whilst we respect the right of the Institute of Directors (IOD) to state its case, we believe that HS2 will provide value for money and will bring about a transformational change to the economic geography of our country through creating thousands of jobs and opportunities for regeneration in and around our core cities. Whilst smaller schemes may have higher benefit cost ratios (BCR's), by their very nature they only make small improvements to capacity and often just move the bottleneck elsewhere on the network."

"Passenger numbers are continuing to grow on our main north/south rail arteries and the time when we reach capacity crunch is fast approaching.  Network Rail have made it clear that they cannot deliver the required capacity by piecemeal upgrades to the existing network.  There are after all only so many trains you can fit into a section of track and the East Coast and West Coast main lines are virtually full already.

"IoD have not yet released their polling data but it is clear that their members are strongly in favour of increasing capacity with 80% supporting investment in long distance trains and 41% supporting HS2.

"There is no other alternative that delivers the benefits of HS2. Through building a world class 21st century high speed rail network that will link our great cities both north and south as never before, we are focused on delivering within our budget of £42.6bn to provide the capacity we need on those routes and free up space to expand commuter services and freight." 

King's Cross & St Pancras Newsletter - August 2013

King's Cross & St Pancras Newsletter
Welcome to the August edition of the King's Cross & St Pancras newsletter for people living or working in or visiting the area. Visit the King's Cross Business Partnership's (KXBP) website www.kingscrossandstpancras.com where you will find information about the local area.
Have a look and let us know what you think!
Download the pdf version of the King's Cross & St Pancras Newsletter