Transport
Secretary Andrew Adonis today announced proposals which would
revolutionise Britain's rail network by delivering an
initial core high speed rail network linking London to Birmingham,
Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds, with trains
running at up to 250 miles per hour.
The development of a 335 mile 'Y'-shaped
network would bring the West Midlands within about half an hour of
London, and deliver journey times of 75 minutes or less from
Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester to the capital. Connections onto
existing tracks would be included, allowing direct high speed
train services to be operated to cities including Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Newcastle and Liverpool as soon as the line opens.
Further consideration will also be given to extending the network
subsequently to these and other major destinations.
The first step in building such a network would be a high speed
line from London to Birmingham, for which the Government has today
published details of High Speed Two Ltd’s (HS2 Ltd) recommended
route. Full public consultation on that route, and the longer term
strategy for high speed rail, will begin in the Autumn and
detailed planning work will now also begin on the route options
from Birmingham to Manchester and to Leeds to allow consultation
on these routes in 2012.
Andrew Adonis said:
“The time has come for Britain to plan seriously for high speed
rail between our major cities. The high speed line from London to
the Channel Tunnel has been a clear success, and many European and
Asian countries now have extensive and successful high speed
networks. I believe high speed rail has a big part to play in
Britain’s future.
"Over the next twenty to thirty years the UK will
require a step-change in transport capacity and connectivity both
to promote and respond to long-term economic growth. However, this
must be delivered sustainably, without unacceptable environmental
impacts, and in line with the Government’s strategy to promote a
low carbon economy.
"High speed rail would be by far the most effective way
to achieve this step-change, offering a balance of capacity,
connectivity and sustainability benefits unmatched by any other option.
"The proposed high speed rail strategy I am setting out
today will now go forward to full public consultation in the
Autumn. Building this network would not only revolutionise
Britain's transport, but would also present significant
new opportunities for the UK’s design, engineering, construction
and manufacturing sectors, creating new jobs and skills."
The Government has formed its proposals after consideration of a
detailed report from HS2 Ltd, the company set up by the Government
in January 2009 to investigate the case for high speed rail.
Under the proposals, the recommended route for a
London-Birmingham high speed line would run from a rebuilt Euston
station to a new Birmingham City Centre station at Fazeley/Curzon
Street. A Crossrail interchange station would be built at Old Oak
Common in West London, giving the new line direct connections to
the West End, City and Docklands via Crossrail, to the South West
via the Great Western main line and to Heathrow via the Heathrow
Express. A second interchange station could also be located to the
south east of Birmingham - offering direct links to Birmingham
Airport, the National Exhibition Centre and the M6 and M42.
In the first instance the line would connect to Heathrow airport
through a direct link to the Heathrow Express at Old Oak Common.
However, the Government has today appointed Lord Mawhinney, a
former Transport Secretary, to examine potential options for a
future station at the airport itself. Further work is also being
carried out to assess options for a connection to the wider
European high speed rail network, through either or both a
dedicated rapid transport system linking Euston and St Pancras and
a direct rail link to High Speed One.
HS2 Ltd have provided an estimated cost of £30 billion for the
core 'Y' network and also found that
construction costs for major projects in the UK are higher than
for comparable projects elsewhere in Europe. In the light of this
evidence, Infrastructure UK - the body set up to help ensure that
publicly funded infrastructure is effectively prioritised and
delivered - will work with the Department for Transport to
consider whether and how construction costs can be reduced.
Further work on HS2 Ltd’s cost estimates may be required following
the completion of that work.
The Government proposes to secure the powers to deliver any high
speed network by means of a single Hybrid Bill. Depending on the
outcome of consultation and Parliamentary timescales and approval,
this should allow construction to start after the Crossrail scheme
is completed from 2017 with the high speed network opening in
phases from 2026.
Notes to editors
The HS2 report and the Government's proposed strategy
Britain already has its first high speed rail line: High Speed
One (HS1), which links London with the Channel Tunnel.
In January 2009, the Government set up a company called
'High Speed Two Limited' (HS2 Ltd) to advise on
the development of high speed rail services between London and
Scotland. HS2 Ltd delivered its report - the most detailed
examination ever undertaken of high speed rail in Britain - to the
Government at the end of 2009.
Following consideration of the HS2 Ltd report, the Government
has today published its proposed strategy for a British high speed
rail network in the form of a Government Command Paper. This is
available on the DfT website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/commandpaper/
HS2 Ltd's report is also published today, supported by
technical assessments, including demand forecasts and - for the
route between London and the West Midlands - detailed maps, design
specifications, environmental assessments, and costs, funding and
delivery structures. This is available on the DfT website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/hs2report/
London to Birmingham - HS2 Ltd's recommended route
In formulating today's recommended route option, HS2
carefully assessed the various route options, including routes
using the existing transport corridors of the M1, M40, A413 and
West Coast Main Line, and also those which follow new alignments,
for instance an option which crosses the Hughenden Valley through
the Chiltern Hills.
The Government agrees with HS2 Ltd that route option 3, which
follows the A413 corridor, appears best to meet the Government’s
objectives for optimising journey times and cost, and for managing
impacts on the local environment and communities in an acceptable
way. After thorough consideration, the Government also believes
that all of the other route options presented by HS2 Ltd are
significantly inferior. It is therefore the recommended route
option 3 which the Government proposes to put forward for
consultation in the autumn, following the completion of further
work on mitigating specific impacts on the local environment and
communities.
As described by HS2 Ltd, this route would run in tunnel from a
rebuilt Euston Station, surfacing in West London to follow the
route of the existing Chiltern Line, leaving London near Ruislip.
The route would proceed largely in tunnel from the M25 as far as
Amersham, and then continue to the west of Wendover and Aylesbury,
partly in tunnel and partly following the existing A413 and
Chiltern Line corridor.
The next section of the route would employ the largely-preserved
track-bed of the former Great Central Railway, and continue north
to enter Birmingham close to Water Orton. The route would
terminate at a new city centre station built at Fazeley Street in
Birmingham’s Eastside regeneration area. In addition, from outside
the city, the main line would extend north to join the West Coast
Main Line at Lichfield, enabling services to continue at
conventional speeds to destinations further north.
Formal public consultation on the recommended route option, and
the Government’s proposed strategy on high speed rail, will begin
in Autumn 2010.
The proposed network beyond Birmingham
After Birmingham, the Government's proposed strategy
would see the new high speed line running on to Manchester and
separately to the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds. Connections
onto existing tracks would be included, allowing direct high speed
train services to be operated to cities including Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Newcastle and Liverpool as soon as the line opens.
Further consideration will also be given to extending the network
subsequently to these and other major destinations.
HS2 will now begin planning work on the route options from
Birmingham to Manchester and to Leeds, to be completed in summer
2011, with a view to consulting early in 2012.
Exception Hardship Scheme
Under existing planning law, eligible property owners directly
affected by any confirmed plans for the development of any future
high speed line would have access in due course to statutory
blight provisions. These statutory provisions would come into
force at such time as safeguarding directions are issued in
respect of any route.
However, the possibility of such a line being constructed may in
some cases have an impact on property values in the period before
statutory protection is available. Therefore the Government
proposes to introduce an Exceptional Hardship Scheme for
householders most affected by these proposals, and in particular
for householders who have an urgent need to relocate. It is
intended first to consult on this, and the Government has today
published a consultation paper setting out its proposals on the
scope of such a scheme.
This consultation paper is available on the Department for
Transport website at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/2010-18/. It will run
until 20 May 2010, after which the Government will consider the
responses and, if a decision is taken to go ahead with a scheme,
launch it shortly thereafter.
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