Birmingham Airport favoured over New Street for high speed rail link
A 132-page report published by Network Rail last week proposed high speed trains should stop only in Birmingham city centre, while conventional rail services to Birmingham International, the rail station which serves the airport, will be increased. “The Chief Executive of Network Rail, Iain Coucher, said that New Street will not be able to cope with any new traffic and Birmingham would need a new station, but we don’t know where that station would be,” Sir David added.
“Ian is certainly right.
“It is pretty unlikely Birmingham New Street could handle traffic from a high speed service - the station is full already.
“So the question would be if it isn’t New Street where else might it be?”
Under new EU regulations, any station which is served by a High Speed train must be at least 400 metres in length.
Sir David revealed that he had been in Birmingham city centre with his board last week to assess the situation first hand.
A number of different sites were viewed, including Moor St and Snow Hill stations, in order to give the government a city centre alternative if they decided to reject the parkway option.
Sir David and his team are also set to meet with Mr Kehoe later this month to discuss the options outside the city.
Sir David added: “At the end of the year we will be very clear in our recommendations to the government where a new city centre location should be if they decided to go down that route.
“This will be down to the precise details of its location.
“However, I will not reveal in public yet whether that is Moor Street, Snow Hill or a new-build.”
