TRANSPORT Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has spelt out the benefits the proposed high-speed rail network will bring to North East Lincolnshire – which could include direct rail services to London.
Mr McLoughlin said that HS2 would free up capacity on the nation's rail network that would enable "other facilities and other options to be taken forward."
He said that direct rail services between London and Grimsby would be something he would want Ministers to consider.
Mr McLoughlin made his remarks in response to a question by the Telegraph during a newspaper conference lunch at Westminster.
Asked what benefits the area could expect to see from HS2 and whether increased capacity could result in direct train services between North East Lincolnshire, he said: "The simple answer to that is yes.
"I don't want to say that HS2 is the answer to every single problem.
"It answers at lot of problems; it certainly provides us with more capacity."
Mr McLoughlin explained that although the high-speed network will initially link London to Birmingham and Leeds, that is only the "high-speed spine".
He said that trains would not have to stop at those cities and could go on to other areas of the country.
He used the example of the high-speed Javelin train, which shuttled more than 2.4 million visitors between St Pancras and the Olympic Park last summer.
"If you go on the Javelin train at the moment from St Pancras, you go down to Ashford at high speed and then you carry on the same train using the same tracks to Folkestone or to Canterbury," he said.
"High speed trains will not have to stop at Manchester or Leeds. They can carry on.
"I think you remember when we first opened the channel tunnel our old trains were going down to the tunnel on the old railway and they were going quite slowly, so that will carry on.
"So, all of what this is about when you have the high-speed spine, as I tend to call it, is that it will enable other facilities and other options to be taken forward and perhaps looking at the case of Grimsby is something I would want the occupier of my office in 2033 to do – but it will not be me.
"I am already one of the longest serving transport ministers and I have only been there 15 months."
Previously, Sir David Higgins, who is currently Network Rail's chief executive, but will take over as the chairman of HS2 next year, said that additional services for the area were a likely outcome if the flagship high-speed rail network gets off the ground.
"The key thing about this design (HS2) that I find most attractive is that it is not a replacement for the West Coast," he told MPs.
"It is a central spine. It connects to the east coast and it connects into Sheffield to the East Midlands services.
"The real challenge and the crucial part on the east coast is the two-track railway, which is incredibly restrictive because we are mixing freight, commuter and high speed.
"It will release a lot more services, and those who come on at York or Leeds, of course, can divert on to the high-speed line."
Sir David said one of the major benefits of HS2 was that it would relieve demand on the West Coast mainline.
"There are at least a dozen major cities in the midlands where their journeys between cities will be much better," Sir David said.
"The huge benefit, which I don't think we have properly set out to the public, is what it does in relieving the main line – the west coast.
"By having 18 new train paths on the new high-speed line, it means that we can free up the west coast for freight, of course, but that provides huge capacity to look at services."
