High speed rail
into a lower station and onward to HS1, or into the existing Euston station. We called this link and low level station ‘Euston Cross’. We calculated that, if some of the suburban trains currently terminating in Euston were diverted directly into Crossrail, either through or near Old Oak Common station, the combination of the existing platforms at Euston and through platforms at Euston Cross could cope with the expected demand both for HS2 trains and those existing and new services which will still use the WCML. The other advantage is that the North
London Line would not be affected, and there would not need to be any demolition around Euston station apart from a construction site for the low level station. Thus, the project would comprise two rather than three single track tunnels from Old Oak Common, via Queens Park station, then under Regents Park to a new east- west deep station (Euston Cross) under the Northern ends of Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross stations. These two tunnels can then continue to join HS1 between Stratford and St Pancras. The two tunnels at Queens Park would link to the WCML lines, to allow HS2 UK- gauge trains to enter the existing Euston station and WCML trains to enter the deep
tunnel station.
Euston Cross would have at least two pairs of two platforms (with a further pair possibly justified later), and would link the three main line surface stations and Underground ones. Construction would be similar in level and method to the proposed Crossrail 2; with limited surface works to mitigate the adverse effects on the local community. There would be no HS1-2 link from
Primrose Hill to York Way, currently proposed by HS2 with severe impact through Camden.
Would it work, and what are the benefits? We are currently investigating costs, and whether the tunnel will fit between the various underground and other tunnels, but this looks promising. We are investigating the optimum link with HS1, and the optimum turn round locations for those HS2 trains not needed beyond Euston Cross, and also discussing further with the Department for Transport and the Immigration Service how best to deal with a mix of international and domestic passengers on the same train. There are many combinations of domestic services that could use Euston Cross, in addition to the international trains
and double deck HS2 ones; clearly there will be a limit to the capacity of that station, and of HS1 and HS2, but at least it should be possible to divert the Javelin service from terminating at St Pancras to some more useful destinations north west or west. We are also conscious of the need to
avoid delaying the progress of the HS2 Bill or construction of HS2. This Euston Cross proposal would probably need separate legislation from a timing point of view, but there is no reason why, for the first few years of operation of HS2 to Birmingham and beyond, the trains should not be the single deck HS2 variety built to our domestic W6 gauge. If the links to the surface at Queens Park were included in the HS2 Bill, this could be built with the trains terminating at the existing Euston station, as they could in the future even when the GC gauge double deckers are introduced to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds and would then use Euston Cross. We are grateful for the help provided by
Jonathan Roberts, and for the support we have had from many parts of the industry, as well as many experts and politicians. We intend to pursue this so that it becomes first a viable alternative to the current scheme and then get it adopted as the project to build and operate.
Fone-Alarm Installations Ltd
Telecommunications and Electrical Engineers 35 years serving the railways:
• Design • Manufacture • Installation • •
Test and Commissioning Technical Support
• Maintenance Products include:
• CCTV Stations and Car Parks • CIS • SPTs and Concentrators • PA including Voice Alarm • Radio PA • Solar Powered Solutions
59 Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9EL. Tel: 01737 223673
www.fonealarm.co.uk
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