2M unveils high speed rail plan

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Twenty-one local authorities surrounding Heathrow Airport haveteamed up to launch a blueprint to show how a new UK high speedrail network could reduce the need for domestic and short haulflights. The High Speed North proposal, published this week by the 2M Group,envisages a new fast link between London and Edinburgh. The spinewould follow the M1 from London and serve Leicester, Nottingham,Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh en route to Glasgow.Spurs would reach out to major cites in the Midlands and northernEngland including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

According to 2M the route differs from recent high speed rail plansput forward by Network Rail and Greengauge 21 because it links moreUK cities and also provides wide-ranging connections to Heathrow bytransforming the existing Heathrow Express system into a regionalnetwork focused on the airport. 2M says the current airportexpansion transport plans offer only a "hotchpotch of disparateterminating branch lines operating on different power systems" -for example the proposed Airtrack link to Staines will use thirdrail power and trains will not continue on to theoverhead-electrified Heathrow Express.

The full north-south line would be built in phases with the firstsection running from London to Leicester with a branch toBirmingham; it would connect to both West Coast and Midland MainLines. The second phase would extend from Leicester along theM1/M18 corridor and connect to the East Coast Main Line inYorkshire. The third phase could extend from Sheffield to Leeds andfollow the disused Woodhead corridor to Manchester. This wouldrequire the former rail tunnel here to be re-opened for high speedtrack. Final stages would extend to Liverpool along the M62corridor and shadow the East Coast Main Line and M8 corridors toEdinburgh and Glasgow. High Speed North would include an interchange at Cricklewood toprovide connections between the new line following the M1 andHeathrow Airport. An integrated 'super' terminal connecting Euston,St Pancras and King's Cross is envisaged. The new route would alsoprovide direct connections from other parts of the UK to a growingnetwork of European cities including Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Lyon.

Civil engineer Colin Elliff, who designed the plan, estimates thefull network would cost.