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{{BS4|||CONTu||||''to Scotland/Manchester''|}}
{{BS4|||CONTu||||''to Scotland/Manchester''|}}
{{BS4||STRrg|xABZrf|||[[West Coast Main Line]]|connection}}
{{BS4||STRrg|xABZrf||188.6|[[West Coast Main Line]]|connection}}
{{BS4||CONTd|exSTR|||}}
{{BS4||CONTd|exSTR|||}}
{{BS4|||O3=exSTR|exLSTRrg|exCONTl||''to East Midlands/North East''}}
{{BS4|||O3=exSTR|exLSTRrg|exCONTl|165.0|''to East Midlands/North East''}}
{{BS4|exKBHFl|O1=HUB81|exSTRr|exABZrd|||'''[[Curzon Street Station|Birmingham Fazeley Street]]'''<ref group="b">Alternately named '''Birmingham Curzon Street'''</ref>|Delta Junction}}
{{BS4|exKBHFl|O1=HUB81|exSTRr|exABZrd||175.2|'''[[Curzon Street Station|Birmingham Fazeley Street]]'''<ref group="b">Alternately named '''Birmingham Curzon Street'''</ref>|Delta Junction}}
{{BS4|BHF legende|O1=HUB62|BHF legende|O2=HUB82|exSTR|||''for [[Birmingham New Street station|New Street]]/[[Birmingham Moor Street|Moor Street]] {{rail-interchange|gb|rail}}}}
{{BS4|BHF legende|O1=HUB62|BHF legende|O2=HUB82|exSTR|||''for [[Birmingham New Street station|New Street]]/[[Birmingham Moor Street|Moor Street]] {{rail-interchange|gb|rail}}}}
{{BS4|||exSTR}}
{{BS4|||exSTR}}
{{BS4|CONTu|uexKBFa|exBHF|PARKING|O2=HUB84|O3=HUB25|O4=HUB82||'''Birmingham Interchange'''}}
{{BS4|CONTu|uexKBFa|exBHF|PARKING|O2=HUB84|O3=HUB25|O4=HUB82|156.3|'''Birmingham Interchange'''}}
{{BS4|BHF|uexKBFe|exSTR|O1=HUB84|O2=HUB82|||[[Birmingham International railway station|Birmingham International]]+[[Birmingham International Airport|Airport]] {{rail-interchange|gb|rail}} {{rail-interchange|air}}}}
{{BS4|BHF|uexKBFe|exSTR|O1=HUB84|O2=HUB82|||[[Birmingham International railway station|Birmingham International]]+[[Birmingham International Airport|Airport]] {{rail-interchange|gb|rail}} {{rail-interchange|air}}}}
{{BS4|CONTd||exLUECKE||||[[West Coast Main Line]]}}
{{BS4|CONTd||exLUECKE||||[[West Coast Main Line]]}}
{{BS4|||exLUECKE}}
{{BS4|||exLUECKE}}
{{BS4|||exLUECKE|||route under [[Chiltern Hills]]}}
{{BS4|||exLUECKE|||route under [[Chiltern Hills]]}}
{{BS4|||exTUNNELa}}
{{BS4|||exTUNNELa||10.3}}
{{BS4||CONTu|exTUNNELe|||''for [[Heathrow Airport]]''|[[Great Western Main Line]]}}
{{BS4||CONTu|exTUNNELe||9.2|''for [[Heathrow Airport]]''|[[Great Western Main Line]]}}
{{BS4||eBHF|exBHF|O2=HUB84|O3=HUB82|||'''[[Old Oak Common]]'''|station box}}
{{BS4||eBHF|exBHF|O2=HUB84|O3=HUB82||8.8|'''[[Old Oak Common]]'''|station box}}
{{BS4||CONTd|exTUNNELa|||''for [[Paddington station|Paddington]]/[[Crossrail]]}}
{{BS4||CONTd|exTUNNELa||8.4|''for [[Paddington station|Paddington]]/[[Crossrail]]}}
{{BS4|||exTUNNELe|||}}
{{BS4|||exTUNNELe||1.3|}}
{{BS4|||exSTR|CONTu|||[[West Coast Main Line]]}}
{{BS4|||exSTR|CONTu|||[[West Coast Main Line]]}}
{{BS4|||exINTe|INTe|O3=HUB84|O4=HUB82||'''[[Euston railway station|London Euston]]'''|{{rail-interchange|london|underground}} {{rail-interchange|london|overground}}}}
{{BS4|||exINTe|INTe|O3=HUB84|O4=HUB82|0km|'''[[Euston railway station|London Euston]]'''|{{rail-interchange|london|underground}} {{rail-interchange|london|overground}}}}
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{{reflist|group=b}}
{{reflist|group=b}}

Revision as of 17:41, 13 March 2010

High Speed 2
Overview
LocaleUnited Kingdom
Termini
Stations4 (initial)
Service
TypeHigh-speed railway
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High Speed Two (HS2) is a proposed high speed railway in the United Kingdom serving The Midlands and North West with a possible "Y" shaped route from London to Birmingham and then spurs to Manchester and to Leeds via the East Midlands. The project is being developed by High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd, a company established by the UK government in January 2009. High speed rail is supported in principle by the three main UK political parties; there is however debate about which cities should be served and on the environmental performance and impact of high speed rail. If approved construction would begin in 2017 with the first trains running by 2025. The only other high speed route in the UK is High Speed 1 (also known as the "Channel Tunnel Rail Link").

History

The Department for Transport published a document in January 2009 giving details of various options for a new high speed railway in the UK[1] and concluded that the most appropriate initial route for an entirely new high speed line in the UK was from London to the West Midlands.[2]

In January 2009 the government established a separate company, High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd chaired by Sir David Rowlands, to develop the project along the successful lines used for other long lead time rail infrastructure projects such as High Speed 1 and Crossrail.[3][4] The company would provide advice on the cost and benefits of a proposed route with any options as appropriate, options for a Heathrow International interchange station, options for access to central London and other cities on the route, connectivity with HS1 and the existing rail network, and proposals for financing and construction.[5]

In June 2009, Professor Andrew McNaughton, chief engineer for the HS2 suggested that any new line would need to be capable of 250-mile per hour (400 km/h) speeds.[6]

In August 2009, Network Rail published their own study outlining its proposals for the expansion of the railway network which included a new high speed rail line between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh, following a route through the West Midlands and the North-West of England.[7]

In December 2009, HS2 handed its report to the British government. Details released to the public showed proposals for a new railway station in London. Construction was listed as being possible to start by 2017, with completion of a first stage between London and the West Midlands by 2025. The study investigated the possibility for links to Heathrow Airport, connections to Crossrail, the Great Western Main Line and the High Speed 1 Channel Tunnel Rail Link. For the report, a route had been decided and investigated to an accuracy of 0.5 metres (18 in). The report was released in preparation for a government white paper expected to follow in April 2010.[8] The Conservative party accused Labour of delaying a decision until after the next election.[9]

Further details were announced on 11 March 2010 including a number of detailed reports.[10][11]

Proposed route

File:High Speed 2 route.gif
Approximate route of the London-Birmingham section based on the official description, also available as KML

On a national level a "Y"-shaped system is proposed with a trunk between London and Birmingham, with a line to Manchester and another via the East Midlands to Leeds featuring both city centre and parkway stations is considered to be the "best performing".[12] The intention would be to relieve congestion on the motorways, rather than replicating an existing route such as the West Coast Main Line.[13] The route to the West Midlands is considered as the first stage of a line to Scotland[14] and passengers travelling to or from Scotland would be able to use through-trains with a saving of 45 minutes from day one.[15] If approved construction would begin in 2017, with the first trains running by 2025.[16]

In the House of Lords on 11 March 2010 Lord Adonis laid out an overview of the intended route between Birmingham and London. From London Euston the line would pass through a Crossrail interchange west of Paddington, then follow the Greenford Branch Line to Ruislip, follow the Chiltern Main Line before diverging west of West Ruislip to follow a new 4km viaduct over the Grand Union Canal and River Colne, then via a new tunnel to Amersham, east of the A413 to Wendover, passing west of Aylesbury before following the old Great Central Main Line route towards Brackley.

Justification for chosen route

As a general justification for selecting this corridor, by 2008 the government had identified that it was "the single most important and heavily used" strategic national transport corridors in England, for both passenger and freight traffic by road and rail,[17] with the corridor being cited as having twice the size of travel market as London to the North West and six times that of London to Scotland.[18] The DfT cited the significant rail market share (52%) of North East England, "a region well served by efficient and reasonably fast rail services", as showing that the new line could achieve a "modal shift" to rail, from road and air.[19]

In launching the project the DfT announced that the new High Speed 2 line between London and the West Midlands would follow a different alignment to the existing WCML, because it was considered to be too costly to provide extra capacity by building new rail alongside the existing WCML while the existing track was in use. Furthermore, parts of the existing Victorian era WCML alignment were not suitable for High Speed Rail service.[20]

The Government stated that the new line would improve rail services from London to "Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and other destinations in the north of England and Scotland",[21] and an approach route west of London would allow opportunities to "improve surface access by rail to Heathrow Airport."[22] Furthermore, if the new line were connected to the Great Western Main Line (GWML) and Crossrail it would provide links with East and West London, and the Thames Valley.[23]

The DfT also said that the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the existing UK main railway line serving the corridor, was the United Kingdom's busiest, but was expected to be "overloaded south of Rugby by about 2025".[24] This was despite a recently completed upgrade, and the expected implementation of plans for longer trains and in-cab signalling.[25] Specifically for the WCML as opposed to other main lines, it was asserted that no further significant capacity enhancements were possible without "major disruption to passengers and freight services".[20] It was proposed that released capacity on the existing WCML due to construction of HS2 would then be used to enhance services for the Northampton, Milton Keynes and South Midlands area, identified as the "largest growth area in the UK" with a population of 1.6-million people.[26]

Journey times

Proposed journey times for some routes:[27]

London to... Currently Proposed
Birmingham 1 hour 24 minutes 49 minutes
Manchester 2 hours 8 minutes 1 hour 20 minutes
Liverpool 2 hours 10 minutes 1 hour 36 minutes
Edinburgh 4 hours 30 minutes 3 hours 30 minutes
Glasgow 4 hours 30 minutes 3 hours 30 minutes

Proposed stations

Birmingham Curzon Street

Main article: Curzon Street Station

Birmingham New Street railway station, Birmingham’s main station, is already at full capacity (and a major network bottleneck) and will be unable to accommodate new high speed services.

A new station built partly on the site of the old Curzon Street station is proposed as the Birmingham terminus for High Speed 2. It is referred to as Birmingham Fazely Street in the report produced by High Speed 2 Ltd,[28] but as Birmingham Curzon Street in the government's command paper, setting out official policy on high speed rail.[29] (There is no discrepancy over the location of the station, which is the same in both the command paper and the High Speed 2 Ltd report.)

Birmingham Interchange

The March 2010 report proposes that a new "Birmingham Interchange" station would be built close to Birmingham International with a people mover to connect with Birmingham International railway station for the West Coast Main Line, Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre.

Crossrail interchange

The March 2010 report proposes that all trains would stop at a new "Crossrail interchange" located near Old Oak Common between Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport with connections for Crossrail, Heathrow Express and the Great Western Main Line.

East Midlands "parkway" station

Main article: East Midlands Parkway railway station

A new "parkway" station in the East Midlands is also proposed at a new site (not the site of the current East Midlands Parkway station). It is not yet known where this station would be sited, as Sir David Rowlands of High Speed Two explained: "Taken individually, Nottingham, Leicester or Derby may not have adequate capacity for a high-speed line. They are not as big as Birmingham or Manchester ... but if you take them together, and have something that can serve all three, that's maybe the best way to go."[12]

Business leaders in the area supported high-speed rail coming to the East Midlands but were concerned that "If a station was connected to a city rather than a parkway it would cut connecting traffic ... The time it would take to get to a parkway would also negate the shorter journey times of the high-speed train itself.[12]

London Euston

The line would terminate at an expanded Euston Station which will serve both conventional rail and high speed rail.

Infrastructure

It was announced that the proposed new line would use conventional steel rail technology to a European loading gauge capable of transporting "high cube" shipping containers[30] and double decker trains.

A line using maglev technology was dismissed as being too costly to build, not as environmentally friendly as conventional high-speed rail, unable to integrate with the existing UK rail network or future high-speed lines, and unable to bring the operational flexibility and advantages of conventional high speed rail, such as the development of domestic services on HS1 which use high-speed railways in part.[31]

Rolling stock

The route would be served by up to 18 trains per hour, each 400-metre long carrying 1,100 passengers at up to 200 miles per hour (320 km/h).[32]

Management

High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd was established in January 2009,[33] to study the feasibility and viability of a new line[34] using trains capable of travelling at speeds over 150 miles per hour (240 km/h).[35] The company's stated purpose was to "help consider the case for new high speed services from London to Scotland."[36] As a first stage, initial proposals for a new line would be considered for routes between London and the West Midlands,[36][37] with the new line extended over time to reach Scotland.[38] The company would report formally to the Government on the initial issues affecting this first stage by the end of 2009.[39]

The company would draw on existing consultation produced for the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail, soliciting new consultation where needed, and would utilise Department for Transport and Network Rail staff as well as recruiting externally.[3] While the project was launched as an independent initiative, in launching the HS2 company the government acknowledged the contributions of both the consultancy group Arup in suggesting a high speed link from Heathrow to London, and of HSR advocacy group Greengauge 21 in justifying High Speed rail based on the limitations of the WCML, as both having been important.[40]

The board consists of:[41]

  • Sir David Rowlands - Non-Executive Chairman
  • Alison Munro - Chief Executive and Board Member
  • Sir Brian Briscoe - Non-Executive Board Member
  • Andy Friend - Non-Executive Board Member
  • Mike Welton - Non-Executive Board Member
  • Tim Wellburn - Non-Executive Board Member

Environmental impact

Carbon impact

In 2007 the Department for Transport commissioned a report to investigated likely the carbon impacts associated with the construction and operation of a new rail line to either Manchester or Scotland, and in particular the comparison with emissions from domestic flights, when airport infrastructure carbon costs are discounted.

The report concluded that there were "no potential carbon benefit in building a new line on the London to Manchester over the 60 year appraisal period. In essence, the additional carbon emitted by building and operating a new rail route is larger than the entire quantity of carbon emitted by the air services".[42] It did also note that "Construction emissions are only considered for the new line rail options, no construction emissions are assumed for domestic air."[43] The report, "Estimated Carbon Impact of a New North South Line", was commissioned from Booz Allen Hamilton.[44]

The "High Speed Rail Command paper" published in March 2010 estimated that the carbon impact of the scheme would be between -25.0 to + 26.6 MtCO2 over a 60 years period and noted that the figures would be very sensitive to the assumptions relating to load factor, the modal shift achieved away from aviation and the carbon intensity of electricity generation. Should no reduction in aviation was achieved and if there was no change to carbon intensity of electricity generation then the scheme would increase emissions by 0.44 million tonnes per year.[45]

Environmental degradation

There are concerns that the route is likely to damage the Chiltern Hills area of outstanding natural beauty, the Colne valley regional park on the outskirts of London and other areas of green belt.[46]

The proposals also include the re-alignment of over 1km of the River Tame, construction of a 635m viaduct and a large cutting through ancient woodland all at the The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country nature reserve at Park Hall on the edge of Birmingham[47].

Alternative proposals

Main article: High-speed rail in the United Kingdom

Atkins study

The Atkins study has identified routes to the West Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester as being capacity constrained by 2015 and this is almost certainly where the first HSL will be required. Atkins also recommended having two routes, one each side of the Pennines. The study recommends against a trunk and branch structure.

Network Rail proposal

A Network Rail study published in August 2009 proposes an alternative high speed route to Scotland via the north west which would replace the West Coast Main Line making it available for regional services. The report did not find in favour of the line running through Heathrow airport, but favoured a high speed spur to the airport.[48]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Atkins(2009)
  2. ^ Department for Transport(2009a) page 4 paragraph 5
  3. ^ a b Department for Transport (2009a), page 24 paragraph 62
  4. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 6 paragraph 7
  5. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 24 paragraph 63
  6. ^ "250mph plan for High Speed Two". Rail News. 2009-06-01. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  7. ^ "The case for new lines" (PDF). Meeting the capacity challenge. Network Rail New Lines.
  8. ^ "High-speed rail plans to be submitted to government". BBC News Online. 2009-12-27. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
  9. ^ "High Speed Rail plans to be published in March". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
  10. ^ "High-speed rail plans announced by government". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  11. ^ "High Speed Rail". Department for Transport. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2010-03-12" ignored (help)
  12. ^ a b c "New 'parkway' station could be built in East Midlands". This is Nottingham. 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  13. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), pages 12-16 paragraphs 32-37
  14. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), pages 16 paragraphs 37
  15. ^ "Adonis in all-party talks on high-speed rail link". The Independent. 2010-01-02. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  16. ^ "Britain in line for Europe's fastest railway". Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  17. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 12 paragraph 31
  18. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 18 paragraph 48
  19. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 18 paragraph 47
  20. ^ a b Department for Transport (2009a), page 12 paragraph 36
  21. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 5 paragraph 4
  22. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 17 paragraph 41
  23. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 18 paragraph 43
  24. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 5 paragraph 6
  25. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 12 paragraph 43
  26. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 12 paragraph 38
  27. ^ Department for Transport (2010a), page 67 F4.2
  28. ^ "High Speed Rail: London to the West Midlands and Beyond. A Report to Government by High Speed Two Limited. Chapter 3 p117" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-03-12.
  29. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 112
  30. ^ "Britain's Transport Infrastructure - High Speed Two". High Speed Two. p. 8. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  31. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 23 paragraphs 58–60
  32. ^ "Britain in line for Europe's fastest railway". The Times. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
  33. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 5 paragraph 8
  34. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 24 paragraph 61
  35. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 23 paragraph 56
  36. ^ a b Department for Transport (2009a), page 6 paragraph 9
  37. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 12 paragraph 37
  38. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 17 paragraph 40
  39. ^ Department for Transport (2009a), page 24 paragraph 65
  40. ^ Wright, Robert (2009-01-16). "High-speed line wins go-ahead". Financial Times. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  41. ^ "About HS2". HS2 Ltd.
  42. ^ Booz Allen Hamilton (2007), p.6
  43. ^ Booz Allen Hamilton (2007), p.13
  44. ^ Booz Allen Hamilton (2007)
  45. ^ "High Speed 2 Command paper" (PDF). Department for Transport. p. 53. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  46. ^ "8 Dec 2009 : Column 31WH—continued". Hansard. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  47. ^ http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/route/westmidmap04.pdf
  48. ^ Meeting the capacity challenge: The case for new lines www.networkrail.co.uk

References

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