London in 90 minutes

Jun 12 2005 By Mike Kelly,The Sunday Sun

A multi-billion pound supertrain would transport North commuters to London in less time than it takes to watch a football match.

The revolutionary train, which hovers above a magnetic track and can reach speeds of 300mph, could make working in the capital while living in the North a realistic option for many. If the scheme gets the go-ahead, work on its first phase, possibly linking Newcastle and Darlington, could begin within 18 months and be up and running in four years' time.

Maglevs, short for magnetic-levitation trains, already operate in China and now the British Government is looking at spending a whopping £30bn on setting up a similar system here.

Travel experts estimate that 70 per cent of the cash for the scheme could come from private investment and say the supertrain will in effect shrink Britain and open up previously inaccessible world markets to the region.

The man behind the project, Dr Alan James, said: "It will mean the regional brownfields of Teesside will be as close to Heathrow in journey time as Canary Wharf is by public transport, which takes 80 minutes."

Travelling from Newcastle to London would take 100 minutes, from Newcastle to Leeds 25 minutes and from the Tyne to the Tees 15 minutes.

Alternating the current in the cable windings generates an electromagnetic wandering field by which the train is pulled along without contact.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has already been briefed on the project and a series of regional meetings is to follow.

These will outline the prospective benefits of the project to the parts of the country it passes through and test how receptive local authorities are to the proposal.

If it gets the go-ahead, phase one of the scheme will begin with a 20-mile-long route to be built in the North or Scotland. Placesin the running for the route are Teesside to Tyneside, Liverpool to Manchester and Glasgow to Edinburgh.

The work could start in as little as 18 months and take a further four to five years to complete.

The system would link Scotland, the North East, North West and London via a 500-mile route which would take 12 years to complete.

Dr James, of Northumberland, said: "It's about restoring the national balance which was lost when London's financial tail began wagging the North's productive dog after World War Two."

Sunday Sun: Champion of the North

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A new age of the train?

At Shanghai Railway Station in China commuters are met by a man looking splendid in a smart military-type uniform and cap who salutes them as they board their train.

Those at the front who take a quick look into the driver's cabin will see a photogenic lady smiling back at them, all calm reassurance.

The train now full, the doors whoosh shut, the whistle sounds and the sleek white vehicle pulls slowly out of the station before quickly picking up speed.

After three miles it is already urging the speedometer past the 200mph mark. At full speed it's up to around 300 mph.

As the countryside flashes past outside his window, the photogenic woman and guy in the uniform take the weight off their feet, maybe having a cup of tea or reading the paper.

"It's a quaint mixture of the old and the new in China," said Alan James, of UK Ultraspeed, in charge of bringing the project to Britain..

He explained: "The train doesn't need a driver, so it's all for show."

If the thought of 300mph journeys on trains with no drivers doesn't have you rushing to book a National Express season ticket, you're probably not alone, but these are interesting times.

England, the Home of the Railways, has a less-than-distinguished track record, so to speak, of delays, cancellations, tragedies and anarchic leaves on the track. Like England, the Home of Football, our baby has been nurtured and taken to a different level by Johnny Foreigner.

Our once-pioneering rail network system has fallen behind the likes of, well, everybody, it seems.

Which is why we could be turning to Germany for the future of our railways. Known as the maglev - magnetic levitation - train, the experience of travelling on it in Shanghai has been described as "floating on the ground". The train goes as fast as a "flying bullet", or, as Dr James, said, "like s*** off a shovel".

According to the company's statistics, the train is 20 times safer than airplanes - it is tested to airplane standards - and 250 times safer than conventional railroad.

It can not be derailed, can climb gradients of 10 per cent compared to the normal 4pc, while maglev trains can travel just 10 minutes apart without fear of collision.

In Shanghai, where a 20-mile route has been operational for over a year, it has run so far at 100pc efficiency.

The German company behind Shanghai's maglev, Transrapid International, has spent 18 months on a "pre-feasibility" plan.

The entire 500-mile proposed route would cost £16bn before taking into account the purchase of land which will probably push the price up to £29bn.

The idea to bring the German company's technology here came about thanks to Dr James, of Wark, Northumberland.

He speaks of it with the zeal of a man who had his eureka moment on a rail journey in the post-Hatfield days of delays and cancellations.

It was during a journey from Manchester Piccadilly to Euston Station in London which took six and a half hours instead of two. He said: "Just south of Rugby the train was travelling so slowly we were being overtaken by canal boats.

"From previous transport projects I knew of Transrapid, I went to them and said Britain is the right place to do a major piece of work. With its major cities widely spaced apart, it was the best country in Europe to have a high-speed rail network.

"Their immediate response was that we Brits can't do big projects."

But if Dr James has anything to do with it, that could change.

A Government seminar and a trip to Number 10 to see Tony Blair resulted in apparent enthusiasm. Dr James said: "Tony got the idea straight away. It's about restoring the national balance which was lost when London's financial tail began wagging the North's productive dog after World War Two."

He refers to the post-1945 shift from heavy industry, predominant in the North, to service sectors like finance in the South. According to Dr James, the North East, North West and Yorkshire are £29bn a year less productive in gross value terms than the South and South East.

And the main reason is transport links. The South - thanks to Heathrow Airport - attracts 85pc of foreign investment by value which ends up within the M25.

Dr James's pitch is that with maglev that would all change.

He said: "With Ultraspeed, the regional brownfields of Teesside will be as close to Heathrow in journey time as Canary Wharf when using public transport, which takes about 80 minutes."

Other impressive figures are Newcastle to Leeds in 25 minutes, from the Tyne to the Tees in 15 minutes, and Newcastle to London in 100 minutes. This includes stopping times and is not just the result of simplistic arithmetic.

Discussions are ongoing and we should know within 18 months whether the Government is up for it. If it gets the go-ahead, phase one will kick into gear which will mean the linking of two cities with a "guideway" on which the trains travel.

The choices are between Liverpool-Manchester, Teesside-Tyneside, or Glasgow-Edinburgh, and the work will take up to five years.

If the whole network gets the green light, it should be done and dusted in 12 years. Dr James estimates that 70pc of the cost would be met by private investors . . . with sufficient Government guarantees.

It will also require an enthusiastic local authority, and as a consequence Dr James's team will be holding a series of meetings around the country to get people up to speed, so to speak, on the project.

His enthusiasm for it is catching. But will the Government get on board? Only time will tell.

*For a close-up look at the system, visit the website www.500kmh.com