Greengauge21 – driving the debate on high speed rail

High speed rail has the potential to deliver a step-change in the time it takes to travel between major cities of the UK. The table at right shows the potential improvement for selected city pairs.

Route	Current or planned conventional rail journey times (minutes)	High Speed Rail journey times (minutes)
London — Birmingham	80	55
London — Manchester	125	80
London — Liverpool	125	95
London — Leeds	120	85
London — Sheffield	130	80
London — Newcastle	195	120
London — Edinburgh	260	155
London — Glasgow	265	180
Birmingham — Manchester	90	55
Manchester — Leeds	55	25

This reduction in journey times is important for a number of reasons:

Improving links between city regions by bringing them effectively ‘closer together’ will improve regional economic performance and narrow the north-south divide, as discussed under Economic Development.
Operating at speeds of 300 km/hour will allow the railway to offer journey times of 3 hours or less between London and Scotland, which will result in a major mode shift from air to rail travel, with consequential environmental benefits.

Rail Share versus Rail Journey Hours