Councils to unveil plans for £30 billion high-speed rail link » Local Government » 24dash.com

A plan for a new north-south £30 billion high-speed rail line which will link to Europe will be unveiled next week by councils opposed to Heathrow airport expansion.

Running initially along the line of the M1, the route would make it easier for people in Scotland and northern England to get to Heathrow, reducing the need for internal connecting flights.

European links via the Channel Tunnel would mean travellers could get from Sheffield to Paris in three hours, Manchester to Amsterdam in four hours and Leeds to Frankfurt in five and a half hours.

The plan, which could be completed by 2030, is being unveiled on Monday by the 2M Group - an all-party alliance of local authorities unhappy about development plans at Heathrow.

The group says its plan differs from other high-speed line proposals in that it aims to connect more UK cities and ensures Heathrow is fully joined to the new network.

Drawn up by chartered civil engineer Colin Elliff the plan envisages:

• A single England-Scotland spine route would be created with spur connections to outlying cities
• The spine would initially follow the M1 from London and serve Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh en route to Glasgow
• Spurs would reach out to major cites in the Midlands and northern England including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool
• It would be built in phases with the first section running from London to Leicester, with a branch to Birmingham and connecting to the existing West Coast and Midland Main lines
• The second phase would extend from Leicester along the M1/M18 corridor and connect to the East Coast Main Line in Yorkshire
• The third phase could extend from Sheffield to Leeds, and follow the disused Woodhead line to Manchester. This would require the former rail tunnel here to be re-opened for high-speed track.
• The final stages would extend to Liverpool along the M62 corridor and shadow the East Coast Main Line and M8 corridors to Edinburgh and Glasgow
• There will also be Heathrow compass points, with up to 40 trains an hour dispersing Heathrow passengers to Home Counties destinations and linking with main line services.

Edwards Lister, leader of Wandsworth Council which is part of the 2M Group, said: "We are delighted to publish these proposals because we want a debate. We have a Government that can't see further than the next runway.

"It's time for some imagination in UK transport planning. We don't pretend for one minute we have all the answers but at least we're asking the right questions."

Richmond Council leader Serge Lourie added: "The country's roads are grinding to a halt and all ministers want to do is put more planes in the sky and more cars on the ground.

"Even expanding just the existing Heathrow runways would bring another million road journeys. The real demand is for sustainable transport options that actually help people and businesses move around the country. "