How fast will the trains go?
“The UK line would be 400kph [250mph] as ultimate service speed,” says McNaughton. That is faster than any rail line currently running in the world. But he expects the line to open with a lower top speed and then build towards 400kph. “The next generation of trains coming out of factories have a service speed of 360 kph [223mph].” How long will journeys take? London to Birmingham “in anything from just under 50 minutes to 55 minutes”, McNaughton says, against 85 minutes currently. After that times will depend on the route, with time savings growing the longer the route extends. He predicts Birmingham to Manchester will take around 35 minutes. “Two cities become one. That is when you start to change economics. Only high-speed rail can do that,” says Rowlands. “At the moment between Leeds and Manchester there are three different services, all of them desperate, and the motorway doesn’t work in the winter.” High-speed rail could halve the journey time across the Pennines. . How much will
