MIDLANDS CONNECT has put forward plans to alter High Speed 2 to allow new services to operate between cities in the Midlands and the north of England.
The sub-national transport body says there is a strong case for high-speed trains to directly connect the city centres of Birmingham and Nottingham and Leicester and Leeds via the planned HS2 Phase 2b East Midlands Hub station at Toton. It claims journey times would be half those of current services.
Plans submitted to government by Midlands Connect show how hourly services could operate between HS2’s Birmingham Curzon Street station and Nottingham, and between Bedford, Leicester and Leeds, vastly improving links between cities with historically poor rail connections.