The city council of Sheffield have been contacting you repeatedly since 2013 because they are unhappy about the HS2 track.
The HS2 route is currently planned to run through Meadowhall– a little further from the city so as not to disturb the residents. On the contrary, Sheffield wants you to build it in the city centre, in the old Victoria station. According to them, if you build a station in the city centre, the government would save £768 million and it would create up to 6,500 jobs. However, it would make the journey between Birmingham and Leeds four minutes longer.
Here are all the possible solutions. Which one do you pick?
| Station location | Route | Journey time London – Sheffield | Journey time
London – Leeds (non-stop) |
Estimated cost impact |
| Meadowhall (high speed) | via Don Valley / M1 | 68 mins to Meadowhall
c.78 mins to Sheffield Midland |
81 mins to Leeds
+ stopping time for services that stop at Meadowhall |
BASE CASE |
| Sheffield Midland (high speed) | via city centre | 66 mins to Sheffield Midland | 81 mins to Leeds | £2bn more than the original plan |
| Sheffield Victoria (high speed) | via city centre | 69 mins to Sheffield Victoria + c.10 mins walk to Sheffield Midland | 84 mins to Leeds | £700m more than the original plan |
| Sheffield Midland Station (classic) | Main line via M18 / Eastern Route; spur to Erewash Valley line | 83 mins to Sheffield (incl. stop at Chesterfield) | 80 mins to Leeds (with no intermediate stop in South Yorkshire for through services) | £1bn less than the original plan |
a) Meadowhall
The HS2 game 