HS2 Phase 2b West Midlands to Leeds route engineering report 2016

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HSL15A: Pinxton (E) to Clay Cross (L)

3.15.1 The route section between Pinxton and Clay Cross would be 5.8 miles (9.4km) long. This section of the route starts at a junction with HSL13 and provides a link to allow high speed services to access the existing Midland Main Line rail route into Sheffield city centre near Clay Cross.

3.15.2 Most of this route section would be at a design speed of 200km/h, reducing to 160km/h and then 145km/h as it joins the existing railway corridor running towards Sheffield.

3.15.3 The junction with HSL13 would start in the vicinity of Brookhill Lane (1), which is to be lowered to allow HS2 to pass above it. The northbound spur would run initially at a similar level to the HS2 main line, passing in cutting to the immediate east of a large retail unit, before passing below the A38 (2) at a depth of approximately 16m. The southbound connection from Sheffield would instead start to reduce in level relative to the HS2 main line, crossing underneath the A38 at a depth of approximately 20m and then crossing underneath the main line to join the northbound track. Both northbound and southbound tracks cross over Normanton Brook on separate 60m viaducts, then run on an embankment maximum 14m high transitioning to cutting north of the B6406. The B6406 (3) would be raised and realigned to pass over the spur.

3.15.4 The route would continue in cutting at a depth of up to 7m, before passing under the M1, B6026 Huthwaite Lane and B6026 Cragg Lane (4). Passing to the southeast of Newton, the route would cross under Alfreton Road in a cut-and-cover tunnel. As the ground falls, the railway would emerge from cutting to cross over two tributaries of Morton Brook before passing into cutting. The B6025 would cross over the route on a new bridge.

 3.15.5 Immediately east of Stonebroom the route would join the corridor of the existing Erewash Valley railway (5), crossing over B6014 Station Road and Pilsley Road. The existing railway corridor used to accommodate four rail tracks and currently accommodates two main lines with a third loop track. The HS2 route would run parallel to and immediately east of the existing two main lines, resulting in the removal of the existing third track. HS2 would join the existing railway tracks on the approach to Danesmoor, once the tracks are on a straight alignment.

3.15.6 The HS2 trains would then continue on the existing railway into Sheffield city centre via Chesterfield.

Reply from Leader of Derbyshire County Council

Anne Western Leader of Derbyshire County Council

The following is the full letter replying to several of our group who were distressed by her announcement last week that DCC supported the hs2 line into Chesterfield, the DCC leader says:

Thank you for your email, which is one of several I have received on this subject. I have put together the following response, which I hope answers all the issues you have raised, together with the points raised by other people.

Firstly, HS2 is a government initiative and all decisions about it will be made by parliament.

The Derbyshire County Council position is that we support investment in infrastructure that will bring economic growth to our area and that will rebalance the national economy.  This doesn’t just apply to HS2. We have lobbied government for other rail investment, including Midland Mainline electrification, and improvements to major roads. The inclusion of Chesterfield within the HS2 plans means that other investment in the local rail network will follow.

Working with other councils across the East Midlands we have worked to ensure that the area around the Toton station can take maximum advantage of the economic opportunities that HS2 will bring. We have also been working on the plans for the maintenance depot at Staveley.

Both the county council and the East Midlands strategic board supported HS2’s previous preferred route, in which South Yorkshire was served by a station at Meadowhall.

The proposal for a spur to Sheffield via Chesterfield only emerged in the last few months as a direct result of HS2’s announcement not to proceed with a station at Meadowhall and was confirmed by the Secretary of State as the government’s preferred route in November.

I and the county council have significant concerns about the impact of the revised plans on the whole of Bolsover district and in particular the route chosen for the spur.

As a result, we have taken the following actions:

·         We have met with Sir David Higgins, the Chair of HS2 Ltd, and other officials. They wanted the meeting to focus entirely on Long Eaton, but I insisted that we also discuss the concerns affecting different parts of Bolsover district. I also insisted that Cllr Clive Moesby, county councillor for your area, and the Leader and Chief Executive of Bolsover District Council should attend.

·         In the meeting we spent considerable time discussing local concerns about the route of the spur. We asked why the obvious route, direct from Toton along the Erewash valley line had not been put forward.

·         We also pressed for an additional HS2 information event to be held in Newton and they have agreed to that, as well as providing transport for people to get to the South Normanton event.

·         We agreed that there will be further meetings with HS2 to press for route modifications and mitigation when they get to the detailed design stage.

·         I have made sure that the East Midlands HS2 Board now has a working group looking at the impact of the route and mitigation.

·         Comment has been made about Sheffield City Council lobbying for a city centre station. Neither I nor council officers have had meetings with Sheffield City Council about this. The HS2 proposal to use Sheffield Midland station is not what Sheffield City Council was lobbying for. They wanted a new station at the old Sheffield Victoria site, which has been refused because of cost. So the lobbying that they did was ineffective and hasn’t delivered the solution that they wanted.

To be clear, I do support improvements to train services from Chesterfield and I do believe that there will be jobs and growth from this. However, I am not convinced, and have never said, that taking the spur off at Hilcote is an acceptable route.

I will continue pressing for the maximum benefits for Derbyshire whilst fighting to minimise the disruption and damage.

This is the link to the government consultation webpage.  The consultation closes on the 9^th March. I would encourage everybody who has an interest in this matter to respond.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-crewe-to-manchester-west-midlands-to-leeds-route-refinement-consultation-2016

Kind regards,