How Will HS2 Affect The Leeds City And The Region As A Whole?

Since 1990, there has been a rapid increase in the number of passenger and freight that are transported via rail in the UK and the increased demands for greater reliability and efficiency have led to renaissance of the UK's rail industry. High profile projects such as Crossrail and HS2 clearly show that rail has a future in the UK.



As momentum builds around the investment in HS2 and upgrades to UK rail stock, the Leeds City Region sends a compelling message to rail infrastructure. Innotrans is the world's largest railway industry exhibition attracting 3,000 exhibitors and 140,000 delegates over four days. The Leeds City Region is central to the UK's high-speed rail industry. Leeds was chosen as a location for the HS2 Eastern Rail Supply Depot and is a destination for HS2 passenger services.



As the UK updates its rail network and rolling stock fleet, the amount of investment in rail, together with HS2, exceeds that of any other European country. The chance to attract inward investors is high and the Leeds City Region is an ideal location for the operations of foreign owned companies due to our talent pool, Enterprise Zone site incentives and excellent academic track. 

The Institute for High Speed Rail, based in the University of Huddersfield, also employs 35 research staff, one of the UK's largest railway research institutes. In addition, they have the UK's only full-sized rail roller rig.

The decision of the Government to locate the HS2 Rolling Stock Depot near Leeds was a significant step towards ensuring that the North of England sees significant benefits from the high-speed rail. More than a transport project, HS2 will act as a catalyst for an enormous increase in economic growth opportunities, making the region an even more attractive place to invest, expand, live and visit.

With more than 7,000 manufacturing companies employing more than 140,000 people, Leeds City Region offers rail industry investors access to a large supply chain and skilled workers. The plan to use HS2 as a spark to create thousands of jobs in the Leeds City region was launched this year. Approximately 300,000 jobs are expected to be created over the period covered by the Leeds City Region HS2 Growth strategy, including 41,000 from the plans, 5,000 from construction and another 40,000 from the broader economic impact of HS2. It has been stated that the project has the potential to add up to £54 billion to the regions economic output. The transformation of the Leeds station, the improvement of the connections along the major transport corridors across the Leeds City region and the regeneration of key sites in Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, York and the Leeds South Bank will be sped up with the HS2.