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

Rail Share versus Rail Journey Hours.

[Click image to enlarge]