High Speed UK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

High Speed UK (HSUK) is an advocacy group which proposes an alternative route to High Speed 2 that broadly incorporates the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail (High Speed 3) scheme.[1] Railway engineers Colin Elliff and Quentin Macdonald founded the group.[2]

The HSUK proposal is not officially approved or funded by government.[1] The scheme was launched in 2008, renamed in 2013 and received a parliamentary hearing in 2015.[3]

Proposed routes

According to the HSUK plan, there are 72 proposed services, as of August 2023.[4] The routes are categorised into 7 service groupings.[5]

More information Service group, Name ...
Service group Name No. of routes Source
S01 Crosscountry 14 [6]
S02 Transpennine 15 [7]
S03 North & Scotland 17 [8]
S04 North-West Corridor 9 [9]
S05 M1 Corridor 9 [10]
S06 Great Western -TBA- [5]
S07 Heathrow 8 [11]
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Comparison with HS2

The group claims various benefits of their plan compared to the proposals for HS2.[12] This includes:

  • The cost of HSUK is £20 billion less than current plans for HS2 and HS3.[13]
  • 94% of journeys are improved.
  • 40% less travel time on average.[14]
  • 600 million tonnes of CO2 reduced.[15]
  • The Chilterns are bypassed.[16]
  • Most work involves improving existing infrastructure and restoring old lines, which is cheaper.
  • The project is one that integrates new infrastructure with existing infrastructure.[17]
  • All principal UK cities are connected.[18]

References

External links

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