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Campaign group wants direct rail link between East and West Midlands cities
Just 25 miles apart yet separated by an invisible divide
A new report by Midlands Connect calls for new direct rail links between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham, which it says would bring major economic and environmental benefits for a relatively small investment. Dan Robinson reports from a campaign launch event.
When Coventry City Council leader George Duggins found himself in Leicester in August 2019 for a meeting with his counterpart at Leicestershire County Council, Nicholas Rushton, they discussed how they’d barely been to each other’s cities other than for “accidental reasons”.
Despite being just 25 miles apart, there’s been an invisible barrier between them.
“Psychologically, we seem a long, long way from Leicester – and there’s the same feeling vice-versa,” says Councillor Duggins.
In a new era of unity between the East and West Midlands, driven by the Midlands Engine publicprivate coalition, it’s a striking reminder that there remains a chasm that requires bridging.
Midlands Connect, the pan-regional transport research and development group, believes the reason is clear – a lack of infrastructure, with no direct rail link between the cities.
It has now released a report advocating a new route from Coventry to Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway and Nottingham. It would cut journey times by 30% between Coventry and Leicester, and by 35% between Coventry and Nottingham.
Mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby, who supports the campaign, says: “I’ve done some checking and can’t find any two cities anywhere else in the UK that are as close to each other as Coventry and Leicester without a direct rail link.”
THE GAP IN rail provision has existed since 2004, when an upgrade to the West Coast Main Line created more fast services from the West Midlands to London, but meant there was no space for Coventry-Leicester-Nottingham services to pass through a bottleneck at Nuneaton. Passengers must now get off one train at Nuneaton station, change platforms and board another, culminating in a slow, inconvenient service.
As a result, just 3% of journeys along this corridor, which has a combined population of well above a million people, are made by rail –compared to 30% of trips between Coventry and Birmingham, a journey that enjoys a regular, fast and direct rail connection.
Midlands Connect’s plans – which could involve several options, the most popular among its rail experts being to “dive under” the West Coast Mainline at Nuneaton – would increase this to 20% by cutting journey times along the route significantly. Trips from Coventry to Leicester would fall from 54 to 38 minutes, while those from Coventry to Nottingham would reduce from 108 to 70 minutes. The scheme, which would cost between £90m and £100m, would bring benefits of more than £170m to the local economy –while creating more than two million extra train seats an hour would have significant environmental benefits by removing cars.
Andrew Clark, Midlands Connect’s senior rail programme manager and the project’s technical lead, says: “Less than 40 minutes is a much more competitive journey time and for passengers, we think this would be a very attractive journey.
“But this is about much more than providing a train service between two cities. What we’re trying to achieve is a fundamental change in the economic geography of the region, with increased economic interaction between these cities that would create a step change in productivity.”
Midlands Connect has surveyed more than 3,000 people in the three cities and 87% were in favour. It will create an outline business case for the project by the end of next year, with hopes the new line could be up and running by 2025.
FOR LILIAN GREENWOOD, the Nottingham South MP and former shadow transport secretary, the project is a “no brainer” as it would make journeys “cleaner and greener”.
Sir Peter believes it’s a “quick win” for the levelling-up agenda – minister for transport Chris Heaton-Harris prefaces the discussion by saying the Government recognises the importance of rail connectivity to achieving this – and isn’t aware of another infrastructure scheme with such a positive cost-benefit ratio.
“It would undoubtedly benefit our cities by restoring this line – and it is a restoration because it was there in the past, so it can be there in the future,” he adds.
And it would likely make visits between Leicester and Coventry, in particular, less accidental in the future, believes Cllr Duggins, who says it’s “probably one of the easiest schemes to approve”.
He adds: “What we want is for people to travel between Coventry and Leicester for employment purposes but also to visit each other’s cities. We simply can’t lose if we get this connection back.”
There are currently no direct rail services that link both Leicester and Nottingham with Coventry Midlands Connect is creating a detailed plan for establishing a direct rail link
Region can lead in sustainable aviation
Making a breakthrough in sustainable aviation could be just the type of innovation to propel the Midlands on to the global stage, says a key figure at Rolls-Royce.
Matheu Parr, customer business director at the Derby-based engineering giant, is leading a project to build the world’s fastest all-electric plane as part of the ACCEL (Accelerating the Electrification of Flight) initiative.
The company expects to race the plane later this year and go above 300mph – way beyond the 210mph record set by Siemens in 2017.
Speaking at the “Big ideas to change the Midlands” session at The Business Desk’s Invest Midlands conference in late May, he said: “The project is about inspiring innovation as we begin to think more about sustainable aviation.
“One of the key components is to invest in gas turbines, which we make in Derby, and continuing to invest in sustainable aviation fuels – but equally in disruptive technology, such as electrification.
“What better way to go and show the capabilities that exist in the Midlands in terms of electrical engineering than go and create the world’s fastest all-electric plane?”
Matheu believes the project is testament to the Midlands skills base, as Rolls-Royce has been able to create a small team of about 20 people –including some engineers with experience in electric vehicles after working for Midlandsbased companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, as well as existing Rolls-Royce talent.
“It hasn’t just been about the innovation for speed, but the technology we hope to move into other markets as well,” he said.
“The technology we’re developing, such as the battery, is exactly the same as we’d like to include in urban air mobility and air taxis.
“It’s also the same ground infrastructure you’d need to recharge these aircraft safely and get passengers turned around quickly.
“So while there’s a focus on speed, we’ll also be focusing on things like efficiency, zero emissions, noise reduction.”
Midlands Engine chairman Sir John Peace spoke at the conference about the region’s role in the UK’s “green revolution” and Matheu agreed that sustainable air technology could be one of the Midlands’ major contributions to this agenda.
He added: “For the UK, we’re creating a unique skillset. When we started this project, there wasn’t an engineering expertise, supply chain or infrastructure.
“We’ve had to create all that over the past few years for the record attempt. We’ll take all these learnings back into our aviation base in Derby and start to think about what it means for future aircraft, as well as feed that skillset into the rest of the world.”
The ACCEL project will equip the East Midlands with a unique skillset to help make aviation more sustainable
Rolls-Royce has created a prototype for the world's fastest all-electric plane
New MD to lead East Midlands Development Corporation
A pioneering body that aims to help generate 84,000 new jobs, 10,000 new homes and add billions in value to the East Midlands economy in years to come has taken a major step forward by appointing a managing director.
Richard Carr (pictured) has taken the reins of EM DevCo Limited, a new company set up by five local authorities to oversee work on the proposed East Midlands development corporation.
The organisation will help accelerate the planning and development of three major sites located in the East Midlands Airport area, Toton and Chetwynd, and land around Ratcliffe-onSoar Power Station.
Richard joins on the back of a 25-year career in which he has worked with the private and public sector to drive multibillion regeneration initiatives.
A former CEO at city, unitary authority and district level, he also has a wealth of experience liaising with Government and business. He will lead an organisation that is currently recruiting a small team of planning and economic specialists, who will build momentum behind its work.
Richard said: “I’m delighted to be part of a groundbreaking initiative, which aims to shift the dial of economic performance in the East Midlands. It’s no exaggeration to say this is one of the single most important economic development opportunities across the whole of the UK.”
EM DevCo is being backed by Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire county councils, North West Leicestershire District Council, and Broxtowe and Rushcliffe borough councils. The move to formally set up a body to begin its work lays the foundations for a new kind of statutory development corporation that was flagged in the Queen’s Speech as part of Government plans to boost growth through planning reform.
It follows the submission of a detailed business case to Government highlighting the potential to use the three sites in order to fuel a step-change in regional economic performance. It will develop detailed plans for development, infrastructure and investment to benefit the wider region.
Supported by regional businesses and universities, it will also work to secure funding to help support developments, speak to investors and developers to establish potential, and liaise with local communities about proposals.
