South Yorkshire MP calls on rail minister to ‘get on with’ plans for high speed rail line connecting Sheffield, Leeds and East Midlands

A South Yorkshire MP has called on the Rail Minister to ‘get on with it’, following delays to a study for new high speed rail line connecting East Midlands Parkway and Leeds, via Sheffield.

The proposals would be part of the government’s flagship HS2 scheme, which would see bullet-style trains run from the East Midlands Parkway, to Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield on the upgraded and electrified Midland Main Line.

The plans were unveiled in the government’s integrated rail plan in November 2021, but Dan Jarvis, Labour MP for Barnsley Central, said that the terms of reference have not even been agreed yet, 14 months on.

Mr Jarvis said, in the House of Commons: “Fourteen months on not only has the work not been done, the terms of reference have not even been agreed.

“Ukraine and Romania have just reopened a train line in six months, during a war.”

The Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, responded that there would be news “very shortly.”

Following his speech, Mr Jarvis added: “The Integrated Rail Plan was a blow to Yorkshire, as the full commitment to our region was canned.

“The high speed rail study is supposed to address this, but over a year on, it has gone nowhere.

“I know Yorkshire leaders are ready and waiting to make the most out of this study. So, my message to the Rail Minister is simple – get on with it!”