Q. Doesn’t access to city centres imply high costs, as were necessary with High Speed 1?

No. Work commissioned by Greengauge21 for the PTE Group has identified surface access routes, generally using disused rail formations suitable for high speed access to the centres of London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds.

Moreover, if a domestic high-speed line is built as an extension to HS1, there is the opportunity to utilise the unused International Station at Stratford and the spare capacity that will exist at St Pancras International. And, while the latter will become busier over the decades as international services expand, it could also be used in the interim to accommodate domestic high-speed services. There is an opportunity in the longer term to integrate domestic and international services via HS1, for instance, by extending some HS1 services to Heathrow, calling at Stratford but not St Pancras. In short, it may well prove possible for domestic high speed rail to serve London without the need for additional terminal station capacity, at least in the early years of operation.

Q. Where would the city centre terminals be located?

In general adjacent to existing rail termini, where the city transport systems offer greatest accessibility. There is a high level of complementarity between high-speed rail and proper urban transport provision, as has been demonstrated in a number of cases across Europe. In Britain, it will be particularly important as well to create first class linkages between high speed-rail and regional rail services so that the ‘second tier’ towns and cities can also gain from the accessibility boost it will bring.

Q. Could there be new parkway stations too?

These are unlikely to be acceptable to local planning authorities because of their traffic implications. This was why a parkway in mid-Kent between Maidstone and the Medway Towns was ruled out on HS1. In regeneration areas, the case may be different.