33
Transport
With HS2 confirmed, Martin Fullard hears the calls for
improving connectivity East to West across the North
he debate surrounding
HS2 won’t be going
away any time soon.
With prime minister
Boris Johnson
confirming that the new
£100bn railway will go
ahead (11 February),
there have been calls to
rethink the route in the
North of England.
The prime minister
should prioritise a new
Transpennine railway line before the
Manchester section of HS2, says
the mayor of Greater Manchester,
Andy Burnham.
Burnham called on Johnson to
simultaneously build Northern
Powerhouse Rail, which connects
Liverpool to Leeds via Manchester.
Indeed, Burnham says he even
wants Northern Powerhouse Rail to
take priority over the western spur
of HS2, which means we would not
see high-speed trains running from
Birmingham to Manchester until the
“The HS2
project coming
to these
Northern
regions earlier
could be a
distraction on
the urgent need
to focus on an
inadequate
infrastructure.”
2040s.
Dr Jonathan Owens, logistics
expert from the University of Salford
Business School, says the news of
HS2’s greenlight could secure the
future of British Steel at
Scunthorpe, an important sector for
the events industry.
Dr Owens said: “HS2 needs
about 170 tonnes of long
product rail and switch,
which can be made in
British Steel
Scunthorpe.
Therefore, it
would make
sense for this
to be the plant
to be the main
supplier for the
project. Buying raw
material from overseas
is a waste of time,
money and effort, as well
as increasing the supply chain cost
by up to 30%.
“Currently [Chinese steel
manufacturer] Jingye is stalling on
the deal negotiated in November
last year. However, now that HS2 is
confirmed, perhaps the deal looks
more appealing. HS2 is a huge
investment for the UK and keeping
the investment within the UK’s
supply chain as much as possible is
important.
“HS2 is a challenging project in
several ways, and it would be useful
to understand and learn from
phase one how these problems can
be overcome, for example
purchasing of property/land and
routing of the controlling cables
through cities etc.
“Understanding how well it
operates in the more densely
populated South, and does it cut
travelling time as much as
promised, could provide
www.conference-news.co.uk
benchmarks for
phase two.
“If lessons can be
learnt, adapted and
improved from the first
phase, then it may be worth
waiting until 2035-2040 for the
completion of the Manchester and
Leeds connections.
“The delay for HS2 coming North
to Manchester and Leeds should be
an opportunity to improve and
develop and improve current
infrastructure by focusing on the
country’s East-West rail journeys for
example, increasing throughput and
reducing overcrowding. The HS2
project coming to these Northern
regions earlier could be a
distraction on the urgent need to
focus on an inadequate
infrastructure.”
The result of an improved rail
network across key Northern cities
would make it far easier for
conference organisers to move
delegates around.
The impact of business events on
the environment is altogether
rather glossed over as it is difficult
to quantify.
On the other hand, regional
Britain is seeing something of a
boom, with cities and towns from
Glasgow to Manchester and from
Leeds to Newcastle all regenerating
to become world-class conference
destinations. The boost our £43bn