Call for new £11billion high-speed rail link
THE Government should press ahead with an £11 billion north-south high-speed rail line linking Birmingham with London, north west England and Scotland, a report said.
The route would provide an extension to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, now known as High Speed One, and Eurostar services would be extended to Birmingham.
High-speed trains would also run from a new transport hub at Heathrow Airport.
There would also have to be new high-speed line stations in Birmingham and links to Liverpool and Manchester and North Wales, with the line going on to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The report said that a "north west corridor" for the proposed route made the best sense and would require 150 miles of new track.
The line, to be called High Speed Two, was proposed in a report today by Greengauge 21, a not-for-profit organisation established to research and develop the concept of a high-speed rail network.
The foreword to the report said: "It is time for ministers to press the start button in planning Britain's high-speed rail network."
The line would run out of St Pancras station in north London, where services of the Channel Tunnel train company Eurostar will move when the £6 billion High Speed One is completed in November.
The report said: "It can attract private sector finance. It will complement and join High Speed One and the wider benefits it will bring to the economy are immense."
