High speed rail in the UK

High speed rail in the UK

Over the next few years Britain’s railway infrastructure is to be radically transformed with the construction of a high speed rail network. Announced by then-transport secretary Lord Adonis in March, the ambitious plans will have benefits beyond the improvements to the railway. Jobs will be created across the country by the extensive engineering works required for the new system and when finished, the network will open up new possibilities for commerce, work and leisure currently restrained by the logistics of travel.
Although the plans originated with the previous government, the future of high speed rail seems fairly safe despite the results of the general election. One area of consensus among all three of the major political parties was that the UK’s rail infrastructure was in dire need of improvement – and that the benefits of high speed travel could be an essential part of the country’s wider economic recovery. Although no set date has been established beyond the pre-election pledge of a 2015 target start date, the new government has announced that it will “enable the construction of a high-speed network” in the Queen’s Speech to parliament within weeks of taking office.
It is hoped that the introduction of a high speed rail system will relieve pressure on the country’s overburdened network of motorways.
Rather than sit in traffic, people travelling across the country will have the option of being taken by a fleet of trains at speeds of up to 250mph. It will help meet the country’s commitments to reducing its carbon footprint by eliminating demand for domestic air travel with the replacement of a low-cost, regularly scheduled alternative. This will also have the benefit of relieving pressure on the country’s air travel hubs, without the controversial construction of new runways. Above all though, it would reduce the time of a cross country journey from London to Manchester to just 80 minutes.
Under the pre-election plans, the high speed rail network would have begun with a link from London’s Euston to Birmingham, with 18 trains an hour in each direction carrying up to 1,100 passengers. Further construction would then connect the high-speed line to the north, connecting Birmingham with Manchester and Leeds through a total 335 miles of high speed track. The Conservatives additionally proposed that the service would be extended to Scotland and Wales, though even simply connecting the HSR network to conventional rail after Manchester would bring Scotland’s major cities far closer to the UK in terms of travel time.
The plans have been welcomed by both public and private sector figures in the rail and construction industries as well as by businesses across the country. Network Rail says that if the high-speed link stretched to Glasgow and Edinburgh, the total project would require more than 1,500 miles of rail, sleepers and ballast – but would account for an estimated 43.7 million journeys per year by 2030, resulting in 3.8 million fewer vehicle journeys.

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