About this episode

Ben Brittain discusses the urgent need for investment in the Birmingham-Manchester rail line and the implications of delaying HS2.

The latest episode of the Engineers Collective is out now: listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, your usual platform or via the player below. This month’s guest is Ben Brittain, director of public affairs at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE). He told NCE news editor Lee Kenny about his role and how, when he was transportation adviser to Andy Street, the former Mayor of the West Midlands, he spent many years making the case for HS2 and advising on the Midlands Rail Hub and capital programme spending across the West Midlands. He shared his personal experience of congestion on the West Coast Main Line, which creates timetabling issues between Birmingham and Manchester. The poor connectivity between the two cities is symptomatic of the “chronic lack of investment” in Britain’s railway. He also expressed concern that sequencing the Birmingham–Manchester rail line behind both HS2 Phase 1 and Northern Powerhouse Rail could delay the route into the 2040s. If that happens, he is concerned it may not happen at all and describes it as a “slow-motion cancellation”. He compared the domestic rail network with services in Europe, particularly the lack of high-speed trains in…

People in this episode

Host: Lee Kenny

Guest: Ben Brittain

Topics covered

• rail infrastructure
• high-speed rail
• transportation
• Birmingham
• Manchester
• investment
• public affairs

Keywords

• Birmingham
• Manchester
• HS2
• rail investment
• public transportation
• congestion
• West Midlands
• high-speed rail
• infrastructure

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Association for Consultancy and Engineering

Places: Birmingham, Manchester, West Midlands, Britain, Europe, West Coast Main Line

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