HS2 - winners and losers in the East Midlands
The long awaited announcement of the governments preferred routes for High Speed Rail 2 north of Birmingham came with few surprises. North of Birmingham the line will split (the so called Y network) with one route serving Manchester and the North West, with the other travelling through the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and to Leeds. Derby and Nottingham would be served by a parkway station at Toton Sidings, roughly equidistant between the centres of the two cities. While I appreciate that it will be good for Derby in that the city won’t be completely ignored by the new High Speed Rail network; I am still a little disappointed. I just can't get excited about a station at Toton. At first glance it seems the ultimate compromise, not favouring one city over the other. But even by the governments own economic impact assessments a station at Toton will not generate as much benefits as a station in either of the two city centres. A fear a political decision if ever there was