North of England Leads The Way
To Intercity Transport Of The Future

A major advance in plans to bring the inter city travel system of the future to the UK came at a key European transport conference today (27 February).

Dr Alan James, chief executive officer of UK Ultraspeed, announced a funding boost for the company’s plans to bring 500km/h (311mph) intercity travel to Britain using the Transrapid magnetic levitation (maglev) system.

Speaking at the EuroRail 2008 conference in Milan, Dr James revealed that he has secured public funding to develop the business case for the UK Ultraspeed maglev network.

The initial project will examine a maglev link between Liverpool and Manchester as a potential first section of a planned route linking most of the UK’s major cities.

UK Ultraspeed’s vision is a strategic transport network linking all the major city-regions from London to Scotland. It would go via the Midlands, the English North West, Yorkshire and North East to Edinburgh and then across the Scottish Central Belt to Glasgow. Typical journey times include London-Birmingham-Manchester in 50 minutes, Tees to Tyne in 12 minutes and Glasgow to Edinburgh in less than 15 minutes.

Transrapid is the only ground transport system worldwide certified for regular passenger service at this speed. The world’s first commercial Transrapid maglev is in daily operation in China.

Maglevs each conveying up to 500 passengers depart every few minutes, operating on a timetable defined to the second. Connecting Shanghai to its remote Pudong Airport, maglev takes seven minutes 23 seconds for a journey that can take an hour by road.

Addressing an international audience of senior railway executives, Dr James said: “Our national plans are well-known and we continue to make excellent progress on the political, policy and project finance fronts.

“Today, though, I am pleased to announce that we have secured public funding to support the production of the business case for a specific potential Stage One of the UK Ultraspeed maglev network.

“I am even more delighted that we have made this breakthrough on the route section linking Liverpool and Manchester. In 1830, George Stephenson built the world’s first inter-city transport link between these two great cities. His 30mph Liverpool and Manchester railway took journeys that could take a day and turned them into a matter of hours. Our 300mph maglev takes those hours and turns them into minutes.”

Dr James continued: “I salute the vision of The Mersey Partnership in committing public sector resources alongside the very substantial private sector investment that we ourselves have brought to the table. I also applaud the drive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce in putting maglev so forcefully on the North West agenda and their tenacity in keeping it there.”

Jack Stopforth, chief executive of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and a non-executive board member of The Mersey Partnership said: “We are delighted that the North West is leading the UK in looking at what we believe could be the transport system of the future.

“It is so important because it is not just a transport system but could be the catalyst in producing a step change in the economic development of the whole of the north of Britain; linking the North of England with the South and Central Belt of Scotland.”

Backed by Siemens and ThyssenKrupp the German multinationals who jointly own the Transrapid maglev technology, UK Ultraspeed has invested over £2m to date in developing the technical, commercial and policy case for the national maglev network.

Work has now progressed to more detailed study of potential Stage One routes, designed to demonstrate all aspects of Ultraspeed maglev, from its planning and finance to construction and operation in the specific conditions of the UK.

The Liverpool-Manchester business case is first of these studies. Budgeted at £220,000, it is being resourced 50:50 by the public sector and UK Ultraspeed.

To enable analysis of the economies of scale, which arise from larger systems, UK Ultraspeed is investing a further £250,000 in a parallel study of a trans-Pennine connection from Manchester to Leeds.

The combined study is expected to conclude in early May. Preliminary results are already in and point to the transformational potential of maglev. Some key early findings are:

- Leeds - Manchester - Liverpool Ultraspeed journey takes 39 minutes including the stop in Manchester, compared to around 1 hour 50 minutes by today’s trains and up to 3 hours by road at congested times

- Including the complex trans-Pennine link, the average capital cost per kilometre of maglev infrastructure is projected at £35m, including land, stations and depots, compared to £56.42m per km on the same basis for Britain’s only 300km/h TGV-style railway, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

- A typical 10.7 mile commute into Manchester by car at peak hour will take approximately 45 minutes each way and will cost £20 – £30 per day, taking into account fuel, parking fees and Manchester’s planned congestion charge. Using Department for Transport figures, a small car making a one-way trip will emit 2.5 kg of CO2 whilst a large 4x4 emitting 3.9 kg.

- A driver switching that journey from road to maglev, using a Park and Ride interchange on the M62 will take only 8 minutes for the journey and pay only £8 day return.

- Compared to single-occupancy driving, making the journey as a passenger on a typically-laden maglev results in emissions dropping by 57% to 88% (to between 486g and 1.1kg), depending on the mix of carbon-free power generation at the power stations supplying maglev’s electric power. If it uses 100% carbon-free power sources, maglev is 100% emissions-free.

- The trans-Pennine section can very closely follow the M62 alignment, avoiding any new environmental intrusion into the National Park. A similar low-impact alignment closely following the Manchester Ship Canal is also possible. This could link Liverpool and Manchester Airports in under 10 minutes, effectively combining them into a single three-runway ‘super airport’ for the North of England, without building an inch of new runway.

Mr James continued: “Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds is a great first step. We now look forward to similar partnerships with the public sector in other parts of Northern England and Scotland, to combine all of the great cities between the Mersey, Tyne, Forth and Clyde into a ‘North Britain super-region’ to act as a genuine counterweight to London and the South East.

“It’s a privilege to be treading the same ground as Stephenson, 180 years later, and to be planning the same thing: an absolute transformation of intercity transport, which will fundamentally change the economic geography of Britain. Ultraspeed will combine major cities into effectively a single economy, capable of competing for investment and jobs with the most powerful locations in the global economy.”

“Ultimately UK Ultraspeed will provide Britain with the fastest, most cost-effective and most comprehensive national strategic transport in the world, with exceptional carbon performance too. With our public sector partners, we look forward to the results of this Stage One route study, to provide the detailed facts and figures which will underpin the business and policy case for the national Ultraspeed network.”

Ends

Views and opinions expressed by individuals and organisations at these sites are independent of UK Ultraspeed, except where it is explicitly stated that a particular statement is an official UK Ultraspeed position.