A new report by Midlands Connect has highlighted ‘massive’ benefits to universities throughout the region if the rail link between Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham is delivered, with academics saying it would support growth at the universities and help collaboration.
The report chronicles a series of in-depth interviews with senior managers and academics at five major universities who all welcomed the proposals and saw benefits to their institution, staff and student recruitment.
Alongside this report consumer research conducted by Censuswide for Midands Connect shows that 85% of students surveyed struggled to get to or from university because of delayed trains or missed train connections. Nearly 78% believed a stronger local rail network in the Midlands would have made their university a more appealing option and 72% would be more likely to travel by rail more if local services were more frequent, faster, and involved less changes.
This research highlights the impact of better rail connections could make. Currently, just 3% of trips between Coventry and Leicester are made by train; compared to 30% of journeys made between Coventry and Birmingham and average speeds for trains between Coventry and Leicester are currently around 30mph, compared to average speeds of over 100mph for trains from Coventry to London.
The scheme could bring benefits of over £170million to the local economy and journey times along the route will be cut significantly, with trips from Coventry to Leicester falling from 54 to as low as 30 minutes, with trips from Coventry to Nottingham falling to below 60 minutes. Loughborough and East Midlands Parkway could also have new, direct and more frequent links to Coventry.
William Rossiter, Nottingham Trent University said: “I think investment in the rail corridor between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham would facilitate growth at the university. Without a doubt, it would facilitate the kind of cross university collaborations that are increasingly essential if you’re going to attract public funding for research.
“Connectivity does make a difference to the to the quality of the student experience.
“We tend to operate on quite large catchment areas, particularly for academic staff because of the need to fill roles that are very specialized. I would argue for universities, intra and interregional transport connectivity is more important than the average employer.
“While transport connections are important for students, it is also critical in supporting research collaboration across different institutions.”
