News: Study confirms no South Yorkshire parkway station on HS2 line
A parkway station could be accommodated on the new high speed line through South Yorkshire but high costs and a lack of extra demand has lead HS2 Ltd to conclude that there is no case for one to be included in the multi-billion pound project.
A site at Wales in Rotherham was one of two remaining possible locations.
Following a contentious update, HS2 services between London and Sheffield would take a spur off the new north-south high speed line and travel directly to the existing Sheffield Midland station using the existing railway line. The HS2 line to Leeds would travel east of Rotherham following the M1 and M18 before heading through the Dearne Valley. A northern loop from Sheffield joining the HS2 line has still yet to be confirmed.
In 2016 HS2 were asked to study possible sites for a parkway station but a report, due in 2017, has only just been published.
Alongside Wales, Bramley and Hooton Roberts in Rotherham, also on the shortlist was Mexborough, Hickleton and Clayton in Doncaster plus sites at Hemsworth and Fitzwilliam before the previously proposed new HS2 depot at Crofton in West Yorkshire.
Now additional work has been carried out on the M18 route which concludes that "HS2 Ltd has not been able to identify a clear economic or strategic case for the inclusion of a parkway station to serve the South Yorkshire market on the HS2 mainline."
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The work modeled potential demand for various scenarios to find out the impact on HS2 passenger numbers in South Yorkshire and the benefits to, and impacts on, the overall value for money assessment of the HS2 business case.
A station located on the conventional rail network north of Sheffield served by HS2 services appears to perform worse than HS2 mainline parkway station options in terms of passenger numbers. It does, however, show marginally positive increases in benefits and revenues to the overall value for money assessment of the HS2 business case.
Rothbiz reported last week that the Sheffield City Region's (SCR's) new rail plan confirms a preferred location of a site in Goldthorpe for a proposed new Barnsley Dearne Valley railway station. The latest report from HS2 Ltd shows that re-aligning the HS2 line to create a station in this area on a new intersection between the HS2 and conventional rail line is not being progressed.
Work carried out on the updated M18 route saw HS2 Ltd assess Wales in Rotherham and Hemsworth in West Yorkshire as potential parkway station locations.
Bramley was discounted as it would have no conventional rail connectivity, and would therefore not provide for integration with the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) network. Hooton Roberts was discounted as it would also require a new HS2 mainline alignment which would increase environmental impacts.
The proposed site at Wales (pictured, top) would be to the west of the M1 where the HS2 line is set to cross the classic railway line between Sheffield and Worksop, providing a link to the NPR network which aims to improve connections from Sheffield to Leeds and Sheffield to Manchester.
However, the required realignment of the HS2 mainline would result in increased impacts and significant costs. Infrastructure, tunnels and viaducts would increase the cost of the scheme on this part of the Phase 2b route by £386m. The documents add that fully providing a new parkway station at Wales, along with the associated changes that would be required to the HS2 mainline, would result in a cost increase in the region of £665m.
A station at Hemsworth would result in an increase in the region of £141m for the cost of scheme and fully providing a new parkway station would result in a cost increase in the region of £396m.
The 2017 documents also confirm that it could be beneficial to extend HS2 services from Sheffield to Meadowhall, Rotherham and the Dearne Valley Parkway but just one train per hour may not be viable. Infrastructure costs to take HS2 trains to Rotherham Central would be around £224m, with extending HS2 services to a new Rotherham mainline station, like that included in the SCR's new rail plan, would be £142m in infrastructure costs.
Independent economic analysis has shown that new stations in Rotherham and in the Dearne Valley on a proposed NPR line could boost the economic benefits for the Sheffield city region (SCR) from HS2.
HS2 Ltd website
Images: Google Maps / HS2
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A site at Wales in Rotherham was one of two remaining possible locations.
Following a contentious update, HS2 services between London and Sheffield would take a spur off the new north-south high speed line and travel directly to the existing Sheffield Midland station using the existing railway line. The HS2 line to Leeds would travel east of Rotherham following the M1 and M18 before heading through the Dearne Valley. A northern loop from Sheffield joining the HS2 line has still yet to be confirmed.
In 2016 HS2 were asked to study possible sites for a parkway station but a report, due in 2017, has only just been published.
Alongside Wales, Bramley and Hooton Roberts in Rotherham, also on the shortlist was Mexborough, Hickleton and Clayton in Doncaster plus sites at Hemsworth and Fitzwilliam before the previously proposed new HS2 depot at Crofton in West Yorkshire.
Now additional work has been carried out on the M18 route which concludes that "HS2 Ltd has not been able to identify a clear economic or strategic case for the inclusion of a parkway station to serve the South Yorkshire market on the HS2 mainline."
Advertisement
The work modeled potential demand for various scenarios to find out the impact on HS2 passenger numbers in South Yorkshire and the benefits to, and impacts on, the overall value for money assessment of the HS2 business case.
A station located on the conventional rail network north of Sheffield served by HS2 services appears to perform worse than HS2 mainline parkway station options in terms of passenger numbers. It does, however, show marginally positive increases in benefits and revenues to the overall value for money assessment of the HS2 business case.
Rothbiz reported last week that the Sheffield City Region's (SCR's) new rail plan confirms a preferred location of a site in Goldthorpe for a proposed new Barnsley Dearne Valley railway station. The latest report from HS2 Ltd shows that re-aligning the HS2 line to create a station in this area on a new intersection between the HS2 and conventional rail line is not being progressed.
Work carried out on the updated M18 route saw HS2 Ltd assess Wales in Rotherham and Hemsworth in West Yorkshire as potential parkway station locations.
Bramley was discounted as it would have no conventional rail connectivity, and would therefore not provide for integration with the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) network. Hooton Roberts was discounted as it would also require a new HS2 mainline alignment which would increase environmental impacts.
However, the required realignment of the HS2 mainline would result in increased impacts and significant costs. Infrastructure, tunnels and viaducts would increase the cost of the scheme on this part of the Phase 2b route by £386m. The documents add that fully providing a new parkway station at Wales, along with the associated changes that would be required to the HS2 mainline, would result in a cost increase in the region of £665m.
A station at Hemsworth would result in an increase in the region of £141m for the cost of scheme and fully providing a new parkway station would result in a cost increase in the region of £396m.
The 2017 documents also confirm that it could be beneficial to extend HS2 services from Sheffield to Meadowhall, Rotherham and the Dearne Valley Parkway but just one train per hour may not be viable. Infrastructure costs to take HS2 trains to Rotherham Central would be around £224m, with extending HS2 services to a new Rotherham mainline station, like that included in the SCR's new rail plan, would be £142m in infrastructure costs.
Independent economic analysis has shown that new stations in Rotherham and in the Dearne Valley on a proposed NPR line could boost the economic benefits for the Sheffield city region (SCR) from HS2.
HS2 Ltd website
Images: Google Maps / HS2
