UK Ultraspeed

The UK Ultraspeed line is a proposed magnetic-levitation train line between London and Glasgow, linking Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, and with a spur to Liverpool.

The Proposal

The proposal is a Transrapid system, as used in Shanghai on the line from Longyang Road station to Pudong International Airport, which is currently the fastest surface transport in the world. The trains would travel at up to 311 mph (500 km/h), greatly reducing journey times between major cities in the UK. It is the result of a £2 million feasibility study by the Transrapid group.

The line's route is a 'backwards S' shape designed to service cities on the East Coast Main Line and West Coast Main Line in one line.

The following are the expected journey times in minutes compared with present journey times by train.

Discussion of Benefits

This system would travel at considerably higher speeds (311 mph (500 km/h)) than similar high-speed rail (HSR) that already exist but are cheaper, like the French TGV (199 mph (320 km/h)). The system claims to use only 50% of the energy needed to power a comparable HSR alternative. [http://www.500kmh.com/Resources/Ultraspeed_Factbook.pdf]

Because of the vastly reduced journey times, there are considerable economic benefits to this proposal. Cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow would be able to function as one economic entity and enable greater cohesion between them. It would also do a lot to balance the traditional north-south England imbalance by encouraging businesses to locate outside London but still have good access to the locations like Heathrow Airport.

There are also environmental benefits, because high speed rail reduces the number of journeys taken by car and aeroplane between cities and would in turn contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport. [http://transwatch.co.uk/transport-pdfs/transport-fact-sheet-5b.pdf]

This system is relatively inexpensive. The estimated cost would be £18 billion, which includes guideway construction and gliding stock. In comparison, the upgrade of the West Coast Main Line is due to cost £10 billion [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/apr/01/uk.conservatives Public were misled over cost of £10bn rail line | Politics | The Guardian ] ] ; and this is to enable trains to run at 124 mph (200 km/h), and does not address the problem of the present railway lines reaching their maximum capacity soon. Likewise, the Crossrail scheme is expected to cost £16 billion, but will service only London and neighbouring areas. However, it is very important to note that this is only a preliminary price guide, and it is very likely that prices will have gone up since the report was made.

The technology was rejected for future planning in the Government White Paper "Delivering a Sustainable Railway" published on July 24 2007 [cite journal|title=Government’s five-year plan|journal=Railway Magazine|volume=153|issue=1277|date=September 2007|pages=6–7] , but Ultraspeed claims that many allegations in this document are misleading or false, and successfully auditioned at the authors after the release.

ee also

*High Speed 1
*High-speed rail in the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.500kmh.com UK Ultraspeed]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4274457.stm Link to BBC Newsnight film about UK Ultraspeed] (at top right of page)
* [http://www.maglevboard.net International Maglev Board - with a special UK Ultraspeed section]
* [http://www.transrapid.de Transrapid]