Businesses are overwhelmingly in favour of upgrading east-west rail links between Leicester & Nottingham and Coventry, according to an industry survey.
Transport group Midlands Connect said more than 100 companies – who between them employ 32,600 people –answered its questions on the state of connections between the cities.
It said some 93 per cent said they and their workforce would benefit from Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham being better connected, with even more saying it could support the Government’s Levelling Up agenda.
The survey said 66 per cent believed if the train line between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham was reconnected, their workers would use it more. Some 82 per cent felt it would make it easier to recruit, and 73 per cent said it could help them to meet new customers. More than half said it would help their business to grow.
Midlands Connect – a division of the Midlands Engine – wants to bring back direct services between the east and west Midlands cities, with a new route through Nuneaton.
The changes would allow a direct, twice hourly service between Coventry and Leicester, cutting journey times from 54 to just 38 minutes. It will also create new links from Coventry to Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway and Nottingham.
Rail services between Coventry and the other two cities have been poor for the last two decades and Midlands Connect said bringing them back would add more than 2 million extra seats on the region’s rail network every year.
Currently, passengers have to change at Nuneaton. Partly because of this, Midlands Connects says, just 3 per cent of trips between Coventry and Leicester are made by rail, compared to 30 per cent of trips between Coventry and Birmingham.
Andy Clark, senior rail programme manager at Midlands Connect, said: “The results are overwhelming and show that businesses in Coventry, Leicester & Nottingham want to see improved rail services. They see this investment as an example of levelling up their area and helping their economy to grow.
“What the survey also showed is faster and more frequent trains will save businesses money, allow them to recruit more people and grow.
“We will use these results as part of our strategic case for investment in the corridor and I want to thank all the firms and organisations who took part in the survey.”
Leicester Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "The survey results add to the already overwhelming case to reconnect the railway between these two major cities and help to reduce the reliance on the car.
"This project is important to both the local and regional economies and the Government is urged to press on with project development work as a priority within their rail programme."
Midlands Connect represents 22 local authorities, nine local enterprise partnerships, East Midlands and Birmingham airports, and chambers of commerce stretching from the Welsh border to the Lincolnshire coast. The partnership also includes the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Highways England and HS2 Ltd.
