UK to launch high speed rail network in spring

The UK government is scheduling a spring launch next year for the country’s high speed rail network.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said on Monday that he is hoping to make public next March the detailed proposal for the new express rail system and its services – including route plans, timescales, and other related economic, environmental and financial assessments. Lord Adonis also stated that the proposals, which are soon to be available in a white paper, will be followed by public consultations starting in August next year.

Speaking during the launch event of the UK’s only high speed train line, High Speed 1 (HS1), Lord Adonis talked about the benefits of high speed rail lines in the UK. However, he also stressed that the size of the UK’s current high speed network is still behind that of other European countries and that it does not link any of the UK’s main cities.

The transport secretary is expecting to receive before the year-end the report conducted by High Speed 2 (HS2), the company set up by the government to evaluate the developments of the high speed network linking Scotland and London.

Meanwhile, the Department for Transport (DfT) informed that the HS2 report will be the most comprehensive study on high speed railways ever conducted in the UK. The study will outline the complete route plan for the first phase of the London-West Midlands high speed line, as well as alternatives for extending the service to destinations further north, including the East Midlands, the North East, the North West, Scotland and Yorkshire.