High Speed UK (Advocacy Group)

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]

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]

Comparison to HS2

Comparison to 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

  1. ^ a b "About HSUK". High Speed UK. High Speed North Limited. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  2. ^ Burn, Chris (14 December 2017). "Maverick railway engineers from Yorkshire hoping to stop HS2 in its tracks". The Yorkshire Post.
  3. ^ "The Economics of High Speed 2; Chapter 5: Alternatives to Provide Capacity". Parliament.UK. 2015.
  4. ^ "SERVICE DIAGRAMS". highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  5. ^ a b Compendium of Services
  6. ^ S01
  7. ^ S02
  8. ^ S03
  9. ^ S04
  10. ^ S05
  11. ^ S07
  12. ^ "ABOUT HSUK". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  13. ^ "COST". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  14. ^ "JOURNEY TIME". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  15. ^ "CO2". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  16. ^ "CHILTERNS". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  17. ^ "NETWORK". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  18. ^ "CONNECTIVITY". www.highspeeduk.co.uk. Retrieved 2 January 2021.