High Speed Rail in the north east

What started my google mapping spree prior to my big move was a burst of interest in the UK high speed rail project. In particular what interested me was how the government seem committed to not including the north east, preferring to go to the north west with all 5 of the people who live there (sorry Carlisle, but...well Cumbria is rather empty!), rather than the north east with the 6th biggest city in the country (Tyne & Wear) and the...18th I believe Teeside is?- and that's before you count other large towns about the place like Hartlepool and Darlington.

People who support the plans defend ignoring the north east by saying we already have high speed rail, some of the fastest (the fastest? Except HS1 of course) rail in the country runs down Northallerton way, but then speed isn’t the point of HS2 is it?
The entire point is capacity. And one of the main areas where the East Coast Mainline has big capacity problems is on the stretch south of Newcastle.
The north east needs high speed rail to keep it relevant, it can’t be bypassed by this project, I’m sick of the north east missing out on so much.

But anyway, whilst moaning to myself I also set to work on google earth drawing out an idea for where high speed rail in the north east could go. Here it is….


Yorkshire

I’m assuming the line follows the existing east coast mainline through much of Yorkshire, north of Northallerton however, east of the village of East Cowton. This line then curves steadily eastwards, passing through a loop in the Tees and then over the river in a slightly north-north east direction, hitting the Tees Valley line on the south east end of Darlington, just to the east of the A66.

Tees Valley Station

Here as the high speed rail track crosses the Tees Valley line would be placed the first north east station, designed to serve Darlington and Teeside. A Tees Valley Metro station would also be built in this station to provide good links to the cities it serves, and with the A66 and A67 not so far away road links should be good too.

Southern Co.Durham

After the Tees Valley station the line continues up past the east end of Darlington. This line continues straight up in a very slight north-north west direction, passing well to the east of Newton Aycliffe where it also crosses the existing ECML.
At Ferryhill Station the high speed line again becomes one with the ECML. As we get further into County Durham space between towns and villages becomes a premium and this is really the best way to squeeze through Ferryhill and the other various towns to the south of Durham. This only continues for just under 3 miles however and at the hamlet of Tursdale as the ECML turns sharply west the high speed line continues ever so slightly east of north; largely following a greatly straightened and improved Leamside Line.

Durham

As the line approaches Durham city itself some fancy manoeuvring is required to get through. Sadly this will greatly impact speeds. Largely following the Leamside Line the high speed line will need to make quite a loop, passing along the eastern side of Belmont.
The question here is: Durham Station?
My initial thoughts are a clear no. High speed rail is for cross country links and the north east is already getting two stations at the Tees and Tyne, an extra one at Durham would really be overkill, particularly considering the town isn’t especially big and important. Considering the train is already slowing down as it passes through the densely built up area however there could perhaps be room for at least a limited service station. I will assume no however. The train loops through eastern Durham then continues in a straight line north west of the city.

Northern County Durham

Having left the Leamside route on the north eastern tip of Belmont the line now continues north west, crossing the wear not so far to the south east of Finchale Abbey. To the west of Finchale the line then crosses the Wear again, and quarter of a mile later it does so yet again.
All this river crossing may sound a bit silly and expensive however this really does seem like the best route to me, the river is windy but it is narrow and shallow, bridges should not cost too much more than regular track, which, seems set to be raised in many places anyway.
There was a big decision of what to do around here- does the train aim for the western end of Newcastle or the eastern? For me it seemed quite elementary, the west offers more space and a considerably easier to cross Tyne. Going east would involve quite a lot of tunnelling or house destruction, passing right through the middle of the Tyne and Wear urban area.
So, the train continues north west, aiming to pass along the western side of Chester-Le-Street.
It sticks fairly close to Chester-Le-Street, having to make quite a turn and pass through a small wood to get between the ever denser build up of towns and villages. From north west it turns to more of a north-north east direction, crossing to the east of Pelton and Ouston, finally entering Tyne and Wear as it turns north westerly yet again to avoid running into Burtley.

Gateshead

As the line enters Gateshead it continues north west. Due to how built up the area is getting here things are really rather tricky. I believe here the best thing to do would be to make a tunnel to skip through the hill between Dunston and Wickham. Already in earlier sections, such as to the west of Chester-Le-Street, some tunnelling might have been necessary but here more than ever it seems the only way. This mile long tunnel would likely be rather expensive, but there is much bigger in the world, it can be done.
Coming out to the east of the metro station the line then heads off to meet the Tyne Valley line.
Here things are very cramped unfortunately, if we wanted to terminate the line at Newcastle then fine, we could stop now, but we will need to get to Edinburgh and short of tunnelling beneath Newcastle (never going to happen), the only way seems to be to follow the Tyne Valley line a little way west.
I would aim to leave this line as soon as possible to allow for local trains (including the blue metro line!) to provide the best service possible. The high speed line crosses the tyne just to the west of Blaydon station. Shooting north west and squeezing between Newburn and the west end of Newcastle, it has to wind a little way past Walbottle however, except for the minor obstacle of Callerton standing right in the way of what would be the best route, it is then largely clear sailing towards the airport.
Once we have passed to the west of the airport…well then we’re into Northumberland and the way is clear to Scotland.

Northumberland

The only question is how long do we continue with a separate HS line and when do we rejoin the existing ECML. I would suggest it heads quite straight north easterly, crossing the River Blyth and then meeting the ECML just to the east of Stannington, safely north of Cramlington and the big Tyne and Wear urban area.
I would not stick to the ECML mainline too long however, quickly diverging once again so as to pass to the east of Morpeth, ideally I would continue in a straight line west of Pegswood, the quarry (?) near Widdrington Station puts a spanner in these works but hopefully it can be crossed and the big ECML loop here avoided, the ECML not being hit again until north west of Widdrington. Hereafter….
Well there’s a question of how fast we wish to get to Edinburgh, capacity is not such a problem up here however the line is very windy and passes through several settlements. It would be easier to follow the ECML however the better journey would be by cutting straight through, heading in largely straight lines towards Edinburgh.
If we were totally going for the straightest route possible however then maybe this westwards diversion would not be the way to go, perhaps we should have just headed north west after Newcastle station, tunnelling and bridging a lot to cross through rural Northumberland and southern Scotland.
Here I am stopping, the north east is served.

Tyne & Wear Station

Don’t worry, I did not forget the placement of the Tyne & Wear station. There are two main choices I can see of where to put it however, possibly 3.

1: Metro Centre

My favoured option would not be to have a Newcastle station but a Gateshead one, just to the east of the Metro Centre, on what is currently derelict ground.
Combined with the blue line of the metro this would provide great links to Newcastle anyway- we would perhaps have to move the Metro Centre station eastwards somewhat though so we can more fairly call them one and the same.
The name of this station would of course then be Tyneside Station, not Newcastle.
There is a bit of a double advantage in the trains stopping here, this being that the slow shared part of the route along the Tyne Valley line would not be so much of an obstacle, trains having just started their journey north or being in the process of slowing to a stop as they follow this part of the route.
Having the station here could also provide quite a boost to the area, spreading the wealth of Tyne and Wear outside of central Newcastle.

2: Airport

The next option is the one which I most frequently hear mentioned in talk of high speed rail in the north east; Newcastle Airport.
This would be rather effective in linking up the line to international flights, however, I can’t help but say; is this really what high speed rail is for?
Already in my ideal high speed rail I would link it to one or two airports, why waste Newcastle’s station on the airport? It is quite a long way from the city, even with the metro, greatly reducing the point of such rapid travel.
I suppose an advantage here is that land should be easily available and keeping all the major transport options in one place could be handy but…no.
Though many think this is the best option I most certainly do not.

3: West End

The third, minor option, is for a station somewhere in the west end of Newcastle. This could be anywhere.
It would have the advantage of spreading the wealth to the west however it would require enormous investment in local transport and would provide us with a station almost as inconvenient as the airport. Here I would also lean no-wards, though it is preferable to the governmentally favoured airport option in my book.


So…yes. A bit different from my usual local transport interests but that is how I would link in high speed rail with my plans for the north east.


Here is the link to view it in google earth:

http://www.multiupload.com/EXNMDE713N