As the Government brings forward the deadline for its £55.7 billion high speed rail network HS2 by six years, design visualisations have emerged for stations in Crewe and Leeds. Based on an advisory paper by David Higgins, the chairman of HS2, the Government has announced that there will be a major new rail hub at Crewe, joining the one already planned for Leeds. The line, which joins The North and Midlands, is now expected to open in 2027 (rather than 2033) and according to the Government, will create 120,000 jobs.
Design visualisations have emerged for HS2 stations in Crewe and Leeds
Architect planners Farrells has been working with Cheshire East Council since 2012 according to Farrells infrastructure partner Neil Bennett, who says his team has been developing a strategic vision of Crewe as an HS2 hub station. Bennett said: “We’ve looked at implications for the surrounding area, growth, how the transport connectivity would work and thought about it in urban design terms.” This week Farrells released a visualisation of what an HS2 station in Crewe might look like, and said that they will look to stay involved with the project as it develops and compete for further stages. Meanwhile, as part of Higgins' report, visualisations also emerged of the Leeds HS2 hub.
Leeds
Plans for the redevelopment of Leeds Station into an integrated high-speed transport hub for the city and the Yorkshire region have been released, that reveal the station will accommodate future high-speed rail and will boost through rail services in a single integrated hub. Higgins said: “Leeds Station is already the busiest station in the north of England, and also a major transport hub for the city, Yorkshire and the wider north of England as a whole. Given the physical constraints of the existing station, and the rising level of demand for services, coming up with a solution that meets all those needs hasn't been easy, but, thanks to the efforts of the council, the Leeds City Region and the Chamber of Commerce, as well as HS2 and Network Rail experts, we have reached a consensus.”
Plans for the redevelopment of Leeds Station into an integrated high-speed transport hub for the city and the Yorkshire region have been released
The revised plan for Leeds will see HS2 lines arriving from the south cross the River Aire close to the existing Victoria Bridge and stopping at platforms forming a “T” junction with the current east-west lines in Leeds station. Although no detailed design work has been done, the plans are likely to dramatically change the area south of the station next to Granary Wharf and could see traffic removed from Neville Street altogether. The revised plan follows intense lobbying by council and business figures arguing there should be a single station to make it easy to transfer between HS2 and local services to other parts of the region. The dramatic expansion of Leeds station will be one of the biggest urban development projects in Europe.
Crewe
Cheshire East Council has hailed the historic announcement that the Government is committed to building the HS2 high-speed rail via Crewe, and will invest £5 billion to help bring the project online six years early with a super-hub station, which is yet to find a location. Chancellor George Osborne (the MP for Tatton) made the landmark statement confirming the finalised route the HS2 project will take. It also confirmed that the northern section to Crewe would be completed by 2027 rather than 2033.
A £5 billion High Speed Rail super-hub station is being built in Crewe, with the project to be completed by 2027
A HS2 Superhub at Crewe would help deliver more than 120,000 new jobs and over 100,000 new homes across the Northern Gateway partnership area over a 25-year period. It will boost the region’s economy by £10bn a year by 2040 and also greatly increase demand for skilled workers. Because of this, the Council has backed the creation of Crewe Engineering and Design UTC, which is due to open its doors to students next September, to boost education and training in the area and broaden and raise the academic and vocational skills of the region’s young people. The Council is working with Department for Transport and Network Rail to finalise the location of the new HS2 hub station at Crewe that would deliver both the needs of the railway and secure the levels of economic transformation to the Northern Gateway.
