The government unveils plans for a high-speed rail network linking London, Birmingham and other major cities across the UK with 250mph trains. It is likely to be 2025 at the earliest before the first stage of the plan - from London to Birmingham - is completed. The second stage is expected to extend from Birmingham through cities such as Manchester and Leeds and up to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Announcing the plans today, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the London to Birmingham section of the route would run from Euston station in London. He also backed the the creation of two high-speed forks - one going through the East Midlands to Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle, the other travelling to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow and Edinburgh. There would also be a Crossrail Interchange station near Paddington, providing a link with Heathrow.
The government unveils plans for a high-speed rail network linking London, Birmingham and other major cities across the UK with 250mph trains.
It is likely to be 2025 at the earliest before the first stage of the plan - from London to Birmingham - is completed.
The second stage is expected to extend from Birmingham through cities such as Manchester and Leeds and up to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Announcing the plans today, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said the London to Birmingham section of the route would run from Euston station in London.
He also backed the the creation of two high-speed forks - one going through the East Midlands to Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle, the other travelling to Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow and Edinburgh.
There would also be a Crossrail Interchange station near Paddington, providing a link with Heathrow.
Work on the London-Birmingham link would start in 2017, with the line being operational by the latter part of 2025.
Now, given the two decade schedule, another four years of Adonis would change HS2's chances of realisation only from "forget it" to "remote possibility"; but he would at least get the planned electrifications done. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I don't entirely understand the plan. It seems to be a case of drawing a straight line across a map, ignoring possible gradients and hoping to get planning permission.
I also don't understand why there's no plan to connect it with HS1. Birmingham or points north to Paris/Lille should be a no-brainer, surely?
Hm? Do you mean the straight line in the Channel 4 article? But you'll find the detailed route maps here. It's very detailed, they even bothered with vertical curvature radius. You also find the different route options studied in chapters 5-7 of the report.
no plan to connect it with HS1
It's in the above linked part of the report, Chapter 9. Three options are investigated. It ends with:
The capital cost of the options for connecting to HS1 are presented below. Option 1 = £457,730,400 Option 2 = £812,165,920 Option 3 = £3,595,290,000
