High Speed 1 links London to the Channel Tunnel. The Government has launched its efforts to build its sister line High Speed 2
The Government has taken the first step towards building a new high speed rail line linking London and Birmingham.
Journeys could be made on the new route in less than 50 minutes, almost half the present time.
Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Transport, has launched a public consultation on the proposed route called High Speed 2 (HS2).
The consultation period will enable anyone who wishes to offer their opinion to the planning process of the new route.
The public consultation period began on 27 February and will run until 29 July this year.
The second phase of the plan will see the line split, joining Manchester and Leeds to the London to Birmingham route.
The new lines will cut both the London to Manchester and London to Leeds journeys to within 80 minutes.
If plans progress as laid out in the Government proposal, construction of the first phase will not begin until 2015, opening in 2026 at the earliest. Phase two will not be completed until the 2030s.
The length of the process reflects the complexity of passing legislation for large infrastructure projects, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).
The Government proposal also discusses plans to link HS2 with Heathrow airport and High Speed 1 (HS1), the route linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
Linking HS2 with HS1 would take advantage of the integration of the Continental high speed rail network which means trains can run across national borders.
HS2 could eventually mean train services running from Manchester or Leeds to Paris and beyond.
Total costs of the planned routes, including a link to Heathrow Airport and HS1, will be £32bn, the DfT say.
The Government believes the construction programme will create around 40,000 jobs and generate revenues of £27bn.
The nascent route faces opposition from environmental groups and MPs with constituencies along the planed route.
Conservation society the Chiltern Society plans to rebut the HS2 plans. They believe the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), should not be crossed by the new train line.
AONB status affords some degree of legal protection to an area, especially in terms of planning and building consent.
The public consultation states that all but 1.2 miles of HS2 track will be either in tunnels, deep cuttings or along the route of an existing main road.
However the Chiltern Society believes the HS2 route will “leave an indelible, ugly scar across one of the most beautiful areas of England”.
If built, the London – Birmingham line would have capacity to take up to 18 trains an hour, each carrying a maximum of 1,100 passengers at speeds up to 225mph.
HS2 would be the first move towards a high speed rail network. France and Spain have been investing in high speed rail for some time and HS2 represents an effort on the part of the Government to catch up.
Mr Hammond believes this plan will “bridge the north-south divide through massive improvements in journey times”.
Images courtesy of Mackenzie London and Garry Lewis
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