What transport is coming to the East Midlands?

The Northern leg to HS2 was scrapped yesterday with £9.6bn of regional funding promised instead.

Author: Ella BicknellPublished 5th Oct 2023
Last updated 5th Oct 2023

After scrapping the northern leg of HS2, Rishi Sunak have promised £9.6bn pounds of investment in the transport in the East Midlands.

The government to redirect vast HS2 savings into "unprecedented" transport investment with a regional focus.

  • £1.75 billion to deliver the Midlands Rail Hub in full, benefiting more than 50 stations and seven million people.

• The new East Midlands combined authority, covering Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, will be given a transport investment fund of £1.5bn.

Trains

The government has promised to double the number of trains between Leister and Birmingham to four an hour.

Ministers also say they will build a new station in Staveley in Derbyshire for connections to Chesterfield and Sheffield.

A Government spokesperson said: "Network North will build better connectivity across the North and Midlands, with faster journey times, increased capacity, and more frequent, reliable services."

"We will do a study to take a holistic view of connectivity between the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East, seeking to maximise on our investment in the full Midlands Rail Hub."'

They added: "This includes possible linkages between Birmingham and Nottingham together with support for strategic stations in the East Midlands.

"It will benefit more than 50 stations in Birmingham and the wider Midlands, including Cheltenham, Gloucester, Hereford, Malvern, Worcester, Tamworth, Burton, Derby, Nottingham, Nuneaton, and Leicester.

Roads

The government says funding will also be provided for improvements to the A50/500 corridor between Stoke and Derby, aiming to cut congestion for 90,000 drivers each day.

Plans include £230m in increasing the frequency of bus services in the Midlands and the popular £2 bus fare will also be extended until the end of December 2024 instead of rising to £2.50 as planned.

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