High-speed rail link plans are unveiled
An ambitious plan for a £30 billion high-speed rail link linking the West Midlands with London and Scotland was being unveiled today.
An ambitious plan for a £30 billion high-speed rail link linking the West Midlands with London and Scotland was being unveiled today.
The scheme would see a London to Scotland fast train route established in stages up to 2030.
The line would link to Heathrow Airport in west London and also connect to High Speed 1, the 186mph fast link from London to the Channel Tunnel. This would enable the new north-south line to take passengers from Scotland, northern England and Birmingham direct to major cities in Europe.
Passengers would be able to travel from Sheffield to Paris in just over three hours, while Glasgow to Paris would be five hours, Manchester-Amsterdam just over four hours and Leeds-Frankfurt five-and-a-half hours.
There would also be extensive links from Heathrow to suburban routes in the Home Counties.
The full north-south line would be built in phases with the first section running from London to Leicester with a branch to Birmingham; it would connect to both West Coast and Midland Main Lines.
The second phase would extend from Leicester along the M1/M18 corridor and connect to the East Coast Main Line in Yorkshire. The third phase could extend from Sheffield to Leeds and follow the disused Woodhead corridor to Manchester.
This would require the former rail tunnel here to be reopened for high speed track. Final stages would extend to Liverpool along the M62 corridor and shadow the East Coast Main Line and M8 corridors to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
High Speed North would include an interchange at Cricklewood to provide connections between the new line following the M1 and Heathrow Airport.
An integrated 'super' terminal connecting Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross is envisaged. The new route would also provide direct connections from other parts of the UK to a growing network of European cities including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Lyon.
The idea is that of the 2M Group, made up of councils opposed to Heathrow Airport expansion. The group believes its plan makes it easier for people to travel to Heathrow by rail - cutting the need for internal connecting flights.
