HS2 train stop in Sheffield

[SheffBloke 10]

In today's Star our Lib Dem leader councillor Shaffaq Mohammed calls for the HS2 to have a station located on the old Victoria Station site at the Wicker.

 

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/barnsley/bring_high_speed_rail_to_wicker_1_3663432

 

His main argument seems to be that this location is easier to get to for most of Sheffield's citizens than the site at Meadowhall/Tinsley and that it would help to regenerate a run down part of the city. Basically does anybody think that traversing the Wicker area is easier than heading out towards Meadowhall/Tinsley. The answer can be seen by the number of people who choose to shop at Meadowhall rather than in the city centre and especially around the Wicker end of town.

I'm sorry but this is the kind of small minded parochial thinking combined with a complete lack of understanding as to what HS2 is about that really frustrates me. This is not a scheme that is about helping to regenerate a localised part of a city. It's about providing high quality sustainable regeneration for a whole region based on the idea that the speed and connectivity of the train will make most parts of England become 'suburbs of London' giving people both in London and elsewhere a more 21st century lifestyle of living in a place they want to live but still being in commuting distance of work from almost anywhere in the English regions. When you can travel from Sheffield to London in the same time you can get from Sheffield to Manchester you don't need to be a genius to understand the benefits that will bring.

Does councillor Mohammed understand that these trains will be about a mile long and will need a platform of equivalent length? Does he realise that each train will probably carry over 1000 people? Does he not realise that the amount of car parking spaces at the station will need to be at least in the high hundreds if not thousands? Does he not realise that, geographically (putting aside Doncaster which as he rightly says, when it comes to commuting, most Doncaster people would probably be better to use their own service to London. The time benefits are not substantial for Donny people to use HS2), the Tinsley site is more central to the region as a whole (Barnsley, Rotherham, Chesterfield as well as having easy access for Sheffielders) with the M1 giving quick access.

The only conclusion that any right minded person who understands 21st century transport issues can come to is that the Tinsley site would provide maximum benefit for the region as a whole and for the HS2 program which will need to maximise it's revenue from each region it serves if it is to be viable over the long term.

There simply is no other option, it's Tinsley or bust.

Redevelop the airport next door by extending the runway and turning it into an international airport and you would have Sheffield as the major powerhouse city in the north of England within 10 years with unrivalled transport connections in the UK.

Are we really going to be so small minded and parochial that we won't push for best national/international transport connection hub in the UK?

 

Like it or not "if" this is ever built and i must admit i have my doubts, the people that'll use it will be business leaders, and professional people the majority of which you'll find living in the western suburbs of Sheffield, what is the point of an hours drive (in rush hour) to Tinsley (an area which is heavily congested at the best of times) when a 20 min bus ride to town is possible. The councillor is right this could be a massive opportunity to regenerate that area of the city centre bringing new business and jobs. Also regarding Sheffield airport forget it, it'll never ever become a regional airport nevermind international.

[dosxuk 10]

Like it or not "if" this is ever built and i must admit i have my doubts, the people that'll use it will be business leaders, and professional people the majority of which you'll find living in the western suburbs of Sheffield, what is the point of an hours drive (in rush hour) to Tinsley (an area which is heavily congested at the best of times) when a 20 min bus ride to town is possible.

 

Because the line isn't being build to benefit communities in Sheffield. It's being built to serve the interests in business in the main centres of the UK. Sheffield isn't one of these. Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham are.

 

If trains have to slow down and wind their way through Sheffield city centre, it will remove the business case for a stop here at all. A stop here at all isn't guaranteed, there's as much talk of a "South Yorkshire Parkway" stop, for example on the M18, serving Sheffield, Rotherham & Doncaster equally.

 

PS - I like how you compare a drive to a bus journey. If there is a HS2 stop in Tinsley, it will be linked into our local (and regional) public transport. City Centre to Tinsley by tram could easily be a 20 minute journey.

[six45ive 10]

Because the line isn't being build to benefit communities in Sheffield. It's being built to serve the interests in business in the main centres of the UK. Sheffield isn't one of these. Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham are.

 

If trains have to slow down and wind their way through Sheffield city centre, it will remove the business case for a stop here at all. A stop here at all isn't guaranteed, there's as much talk of a "South Yorkshire Parkway" stop, for example on the M18, serving Sheffield, Rotherham & Doncaster equally.

 

PS - I like how you compare a drive to a bus journey. If there is a HS2 stop in Tinsley, it will be linked into our local (and regional) public transport. City Centre to Tinsley by tram could easily be a 20 minute journey.

 

On top of that dosxuk, the Europa link road, which would be the main access road to the site is one of the quietest roads in Sheffield and doesn't have anywhere near the issues that the Wicker area has for ease of access be it by car or public transport, most of which goes nowhere near the old Victoria Station even if it was viable to build it there in the first place which it clearly is not.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

No train has ever been able to do that. All movements from the current station to the old Victoria station require a reversal on the Lincoln line which are outside the tunnels.

See http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8249438#post8249438 (post #628 re 'Fiery Jack').

[dosxuk 10]

See http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8249438#post8249438 (post #628 re 'Fiery Jack').

 

3) We've lost 'Fiery Jack', the railway tunnel that connected what was Sheffield's first railway station with the GCR going over the Wicker Arches.

 

Midland Station wasn't the first Sheffield station, it was the Wicker Station.

 

Damo is correct, there is no way, and never has been, a way for trains on the woodhead line to run into midland station without reversing.

[damo 10]

yes, noticed that in the Tesco thread. Cant understand how the building of that Tesco would obliterate that tunnel, can someone confirm that info is actually correct?

[Cyclone 10]

Because the line isn't being build to benefit communities in Sheffield. It's being built to serve the interests in business in the main centres of the UK. Sheffield isn't one of these. Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham are.

 

If trains have to slow down and wind their way through Sheffield city centre, it will remove the business case for a stop here at all. A stop here at all isn't guaranteed, there's as much talk of a "South Yorkshire Parkway" stop, for example on the M18, serving Sheffield, Rotherham & Doncaster equally.

 

PS - I like how you compare a drive to a bus journey. If there is a HS2 stop in Tinsley, it will be linked into our local (and regional) public transport. City Centre to Tinsley by tram could easily be a 20 minute journey.

 

Or by commuter train could be 5 minutes.... The same train that runs to Meadowhall maybe...

[shao 10]

........................... Edited December 11, 2011 by shao

[Cookingfat 10]

it would have a job on getting to the old victoria station there are no tracks any more platforms or signaling system, there was a single track nearby but that as gone to

[damo 10]

it would have a job on getting to the old victoria station there are no tracks any more platforms or signaling system, there was a single track nearby but that as gone to

 

The single track on the viaduct is still there. The steelworks in Stocksbridge still gets a daily train.

[Strix 11]

I'd die laughing if the route came down 'the old road' through Beighton

 

After all the flaming nonsense objecting to engineering sheds being built on that site, and objections to reopening Beighton Station

 

Sheesh, I'm surprised at times that Sheffield ever got electricity or motor cars

[Bilge 34]

I like the idea of starting to build it in the North at the same time as they start in London. At least we'd get some economic benefits straight away.

 

Perhaps Donny airport will have a rail link to the new station by the time this is built.