Transport - High Speed 2 - Archived News
High speed rail access to Heathrow: a report by Lord Mawhinney
July 2010
An independent report by Rt Hon the Lord Mawhinney has been published making recommendations to the Secretary of State for Transport about access to Heathrow Airport by rail, in particular high speed rail - both the proposed national high speed network, and the existing High Speed 1 line from London St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel. It also makes recommendations about the location of a high speed rail station to serve Heathrow, and about related matters.
Public consultation on HS2 postponed until early 2011
Jul 2010
The new Secretary of State for Transport has revised HS2 Ltd's instructions, placing greater weight on connections to HS1 and Heathrow, while putting the link between Birmingham and Leeds on hold while other options are considered, including a differently shaped network running to Leeds via Manchester.
HS2 Ltd has been asked by the Government to plan a public consultation for early 2011.
The Government reveals route of new High Speed 2 rail line is to pass through north-eastern Oxfordshire very close to the villages of Finmere, Mixbury, Newton Purcell and Godington
11th March 2010
Plans for a new high-speed rail network, featuring 250mph trains, have been announced by the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.
The Government Paper recommends a new line between London and Birmingham with a future extension to northern England and Scotland and reveals that the route will directly affect the northeastern tip of Oxfordshire in Cherwell District. CPRE understands that about 6 km of the new line will pass through the parishes of Finmere, Mixbury, Newton Purcell and Godington. It will also affect the extreme north of the county where the route will run through Northamptonshire close to Wardington, Prescote and Claydon.
The new route follows the old disused railway in Buckinghamshire which runs just south of Aylesbury, across the A41 near Waddesdon, and northwest upto the village of Calvert, where it ends.
The new HS2 route will continue northwest upto Brackley, cutting across the A4421 near Newton Purcell, and the A421 just west of Finmere, and then passing northeast of Brackley, along the line of the old Great Central Railway.
The line then continues northwest into Warwickshire, crossing the B4525 and the A361 near Chipping Warden.
The public will be consulted on the proposed route, with work unlikely to start until 2017 at the earliest.
Lord Adonis told the House of Lords that "extensive and detailed" consultation would be needed on the project, particularly with any communities which might be affected.
CPRE Oxfordshire will be studying the proposed route to assess its impact on the county's environment and countryside, and will be working with local parishes and colleagues in adjacent counties. We will be responding later in the year at the formal consultation stages.
High Speed 2 route to be announced in late March
3rd March 2010
CPRE is expecting the announcement of the route of the High Speed 2 to be made between 15 and 25 March.
Given that the announcement will be made shortly before the General Election it is unlikely that there will be any consultation on the proposed route until September at the earliest. Moreover, it is unclear whether the Conservative Party, if elected, will support the initiative.
CPRE National Office have come up with five tests to judge high speed rail proposals against, to make sure that they will support sustainable development and respect environmental limits:
1. Protect the local environment
Damage to landscape, heritage and tranquillity must be minimal, for example by running new lines along existing road and rail lines wherever possible, as well as extensive tunnelling, landscaping and noise barriers.
2. Tackle climate change and minimise energy needs
The energy need to build new lines (this is called 'embodied' energy or carbon) must be minimised, as well as the energy needed to run the trains. This is likely to mean a trade-off on top speed.
3. Shift existing trips rather than generate new ones
New rail lines must prioritise modal shift of existing journeys made by plane and car, not just generate new travel such as long distance commuting. Otherwise they will add to energy requirements and carbon emissions.
4. Improve local transport
Smaller schemes, such as capacity enhancements and reopenings, can offer better value for money as well as being easier to deliver. These should be considered for funding first, even if they are not as eye-catching. New rail lines should lead to improvements for existing lines and integrate with them, rather than leaving existing passengers stranded.
5. Integrate with planning and regional regeneration
New rail lines could have big impacts on how and where people live and work in the long term. New stations must be situated in town centres, to encourage surrounding developments to be higher quality and density. Building new stations on greenfield sites would lead to sprawl and congestion on surrounding roads. New rail lines must be designed to redress imbalances in regional development not increase them.
CPRE Oxon will be carefully analysing the proposed route. If we feel there are ways to mitigate the impact on the landscape of the new line, such as tunnelling in the Chilterns AONB, we will make these known at the consultation.
HS2 High Speed Rail Line
January 2010
The consultants have now reported to the minister Lord Adonis on the case for building an entirely new line as far as the Birmingham area as the first stage of a high-speed rail network serving the major conurbations of the UK. In around three months time the report will be made public and firm proposals could be presented to Parliament later this year. The concept has all party support and will be the tested through the new planning procedures. Construction could start as early as 2017.
Whilst the first phase as far as Birmingham has been planned in great detail, the route or routes to Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh and the connection to Heathrow and HS1/continental Europe remain less certain.
It is believed that the report favours a design standard that would permit train speeds of up to 250mph that is, a little higher than existing European routes and up to twice the speed of the present West Coast main line.
Several interested bodies and enquiries have suggested routes and carried out economic feasibility studies. Network Rail has already found a strong economic case for lines to Scotland and intermediate cities. However, there have been suggestions that the government might favour using existing lines beyond Preston to limit new capital expenditure. The consortium representing major cities favours two north-south routes beyond Rugby to serve more destinations on the eastern side of the country. (This suggests a route via Tring). However, advice from elsewhere is that to maintain the advantages of high speed and to compete with short haul air services, stops need to be no closer than 100 or even 150 miles.
The official study is thought to contain options to recommend a new/enlarged central London terminus near Euston/St Pancras and a possible spur to Heathrow. The Heathrow third runway studies have come down firmly in favour of an HS2 terminus at Heathrow to maximise use by air passengers and others favour of a direct Heathrow to HS1 route to the continent. The economic case for a Heathrow to Paris/Brussels direct service does not yet appear to be strong.
A Heathrow terminus or spur could be served either by a route skirting the eastern Chilterns heading for Rugby, or a route via High Wycombe. Any western route will be likely to follow closely the M40.
A leak or speculative report that appeared in Railnews that CPRE has not been able to verify describes the route as either following the M40 from near High Wycombe with a spur from Heathrow or passing north of the town, presumably heading for the Risborough gap before picking up M40 to pass west of Bicester. A parkway station near M40/junction 9 has been mooted to pick up traffic from the south and west but this would not meet the recommended criterion for the frequency of stops. We shall have to wait and see.
Once the route becomes public, CPRE Oxfordshire will press strongly for the route to be kept in tunnel or cutting as far as possible. There will be key pressure points such as the crossing of the escarpment, hopefully in tunnel, the Bernwood Forest, Otmoor, the Cherwell valley and the Horton/Hanwell gap. Unfortunately, under the new procedures we are unlikely to have much time to respond before the proposals reach parliament in the autumn.
High Speed 2 could blight Chilterns AONB
September 2009
In January 2009, a new company was formed by the government - High Speed 2 – to consider the case for new high speed rail services from London to Scotland. As a first stage the company has been asked to develop a proposal for an entirely new line between London and the West Midlands, which would enable faster journeys to other destinations in the North of England and Scotland using both existing lines and a new high speed rail network.
The exact route for the new high-speed rail line from London to Birmingham is being planned in secret by HS2 Ltd to within a few metres. HS2 Chairman Sir David Rowlands has said: "In urban areas and pinch points [the planned route] will be down to a few metres of where it will be and in open countryside 25 metres."
Rowlands has acknowledged that the route would pass through the Chiltern AONB. "There will be people upset that a high-speed rail line passes through the bottom of their garden or passes through the Chilterns. You have got to take a railway through an area of outstanding natural beauty. You can design the railway to use natural forms. You can channel noise away from people and upwards and outwards. We believe we can do a really good job [in] the Chilterns."
The Chilterns Conservation Board has said south Buckinghamshire could be trashed if HS2 is built through the Chilterns and have promised to fight the plans. They said: "We're independent. We can put a boot on and stick it in." The Board is also concerned that the Chilterns will see no benefits from High Speed 2, since none of its services will stop at local stations.
CPRE has also voiced concerns about High Speed 2. Senior planning campaigner Paul Miner said: "It seems strange that only one route is being studied for HS2 when High Speed One considered a number. We are in favour of HSR, but with the link potentially crossing areas such as the Chilterns the environmental impact must be minimal."
Ralph Smyth, CPRE's Senior Transport Campaigner, said: "Bulldozing a new line straight through the Lake District National Park and Chiltern Hills would be both unacceptable and unrealistic."
He added: "Small rail schemes across the country must be given at least as much priority as a new high speed line.