Today, @MidsConnect launched their integrated transport plan for plugging the new East Midlands Hub (EMH) at Toton into the wider region…

These plans are excellent and make the #whyHS2 case better than any others document I've seen to date.

I looked at the @MidsConnect plans for the wider East Midlands region when they were released a while back, and these are worth going through… I think I described them in much the same way! https://twitter.com/GarethDennis/status/1172040609986752512

Firstly, I'll head off the inevitable questions about the location of EMH…

Find me a better location to serve Derby and Nottingham simultaneously that can also accommodate four 400m long platforms and four regional platforms (you won't be able to): https://twitter.com/PermanentRail/status/1158436231610585088

Right, on to the good stuff…

Here's the @MidsConnect EMH integrated transport plan, showing when things will be appearing by in the three phases delivered by 2030, 2040 and 2045:

There's a lot going on here, but I want to pick out the heavy rail upgrades that are going to be delivered by 2030 and the arrival of HS2.

The plan is to create a regional S-Train service with minimums of 4tph linking the major centres of the East Midlands:

These will be enabled by the creation of a new Trowell Curve linking the line between the EMH and Clay Cross Jn to the Mansfield Jn to Trowell Jn line that loops round the north of Nottingham.

This intervention is expected to cost around £150m (of the £455m Phase 1 budget).

You can see what this means in terms of connectivity… No longer will you have to wait around for a train or worry about what connection you need to make.

EHM will only be 18 minutes/12 minutes from Derby and Nottingham respectively. Feeder/HS2 services will be very frequent.

If we skip back to the overview map, this means that train frequencies will increase, more local trains will be able to run, and journey times will decrease.

Leicester to Leeds will reduce from 120 to 46 minutes. Nottingham to Birmingham will drop from 72 to 33 minutes.

The plans published today are a drop in the ocean in terms of cost. Yet even looking at heavy rail in isolation, you can see how the hub and spoke model for the HS2 stations enables a far greater regional focus.

If anyone says that HS2 is London-centric, show them this.
#whyHS2

Oh, here's a high res version of the integrated transport plan (I didn't really need to GIF it, did I?):
https://twitter.com/GarethDennis/status/1265970273771233280?s=20