A LEADING High Speed rail campaigning group has called for a greater national network of High Speed lines to be considered by the Department for Transport, after the Government confirmed its intention to go ahead with HS2 in the Queen's Speech.
Jim Steer of Greengauge21 claimed there was a need for a 'genuinely national plan', which would add new HS routes – including some travelling broadly east-west – to the system currently being developed between London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, South Yorkshire, Leeds and Manchester.
He pointed out that the Preparation Bill announced in Parliament by the Queen not only provides for HS2 but also authorises ‘preparatory work for future phases of a high speed rail network at the appropriate time’.
He explained: "It is essential that the country has the opportunity to think strategically. We need to ensure that all English regions as well as Scotland and Wales benefit from access to the HS network. Much can be done by extending HS2 but we need to have the whole picture."
The Greengauge21 plan, which has been sent to the charity the Independent Transport Commission, is a combination of new and upgraded lines. It envisages a second north-south High Speed corridor between London and Scotland serving the East Coast via Cambridge and Newcastle. There would also be new HS links to Heathrow, Stansted, the South Coast, Cardiff and Bristol, and potentially onwards into the far south west of England.
Greengauge21 said its vision 'was developed through a systematic comparison and appraisal of alternative network approaches. It has the great merit of inter-connecting all the major cities – and the main airports'.
Jim Steer added: "We’d like DfT to engage in the process of reviewing and updating our plan – along with wider stakeholders to ensure that we get the best possible connected outcome – using new lines and route upgrades to create a network of real relevance to the whole of Great Britain."