Plans for a major new station at Meadowhall in Sheffield as part of HS2 have been scrapped today.
The new plan is for HS2 high speed rail between London and Sheffield to take a spur off the line and travel straight into the existing Sheffield Midland station.
Publishing his report, HS2 chairman David Higgins said: “I have listened to the very constructive elements and discussions that have taken place on how HS2 should best serve South Yorkshire and recommend the option of HS2 services using the existing city centre station.
“Discussions of this scale sometimes involve compromise, and through dialogue I believe we reached the best solution for South Yorkshire.”
Sir Nigel Knowles, chair of the Sheffield City Region LEP, said: “I am delighted that we have had the time to work constructively to ensure the city region could be best served by Britain’s new high speed rail network, which we expect to include trains calling at Chesterfield in the south of the city region, a parkway station as well as the line into the centre of Sheffield.”
Higgin’s report, published today, said that using the existing station opened up the possibility of running high speed trains from Sheffield to Leeds by building a link back onto the main HS2 line north of Sheffield.
HS2 said it would also investigate if it was possible to build a parkway station along the new route, which partly follows the M18 motorway.
The Secretary of State for Transport will now consider David Higgin’s report.
