How major rail plans could bring jobs and investment to Sheffield

That was the moment Boris Johnson pledged to go ahead with the scheme known as Northern Powerhouse Rail.

It is just the latest prospect for boosting the city’s railway links, and could help speed links to other northern cities, including Hull and Manchester, as well as Leeds.

And campaigners say it is more important than ever to move these schemes forward as the UK looks to stop using fossil fuels.

With Northern Powerhouse Rail added to HS2 and proposals to open new lines, the railways could see big changes in Sheffield, and the Government is expected to announce more details of how it would like to improve the railways in an official document that they are calling their integrated rail plan in the next few weeks.

If it goes ahead, it has been claimed HS2 would shave an estimated 34 minutes off a rail trip to London from the city and increase express trains to Leeds from one an hour to four.

While these schemes would improve links with cities, there are also proposals to re-open old lines and stations to improve rail services within the city.

Hopes for Barrow Hill line

The most advanced is a plan to bring in passenger services on the Barrow Hill line between Sheffield and Chesterfield, via Eckington, Killamarsh, Beighton, Woodhouse, and a proposed new station at Waverley, near the Parkway.

An application to the Government’s Restoring Your Railway Fund by the North East Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley has already passed the first stage, with the Government backing a detailed feasibility study. It has the backing of the mayor of South Yorkshire, Dan Jarvis.

Plans to re-open railway stations in Heeley, on London Road; Millhouses, on Archer Road, and to expand the station at Dore and Totley have been put forward to the same fund, as have plans to open passenger services on old freight lines linking Sheffield and Stocksbridge. These may involve the re-opening of Sheffield Victoria as a second station within the city centre, according to the South Yorkshire Combined Authority, which is calling on the Government’s transport plan to include electrification of the Midland Main Line from Market Harborough to Sheffield by 2025.

But there is still an element of uncertainty over the plans to bring HS2 through Sheffield.

The cost of HS2 has shot up from £32.7billion in 2012 to an estimated £107.7bn today. Sheffield Midland Station would be served on a loop off the mainline.

The Government says no decisions have been made in terms of the delivery of Phase 2B, the phase which would take it to Sheffield and Leeds.