High speed rail tunnel will be visible above ground

Mar 17 2010 By Polly Manser

THE government's preferred high speed rail route - High Speed Two - is scheduled to run in a tunnel underneath the Chalfonts and Amersham and then follow a series of cuttings and viaducts to Wendover.

The tunnel would start at the M25 East of Chalfont St Peter and emerge at the Western end of Amersham Old Town close to St Mary's Combined School on School Lane.

For most of this time it would be at least 30 metres under ground. But the route would be visible from above, because emergency access and egress tunnels would be built every two kilometers, with some new access roads constructed.

From Amersham, the route would run parallel to the the A413, and north of it, for 2.25km through a cutting 10 to 20 metres deep before entering a 1.05km long tunnel between Little Missenden and Hyde Heath.

It would then run for 2km in a cutting less than 10 metres deep near South Heath.

A 450m long viaduct would take trains over a steep valley known as Wendover Dean and another 600m long viaduct would take them over the A413 before passing Wendover close to the junction of Nash Lea Road and Nash Lee Lane.

The Advertiser and Examiner will also give details of a second route option being looked at which could see High Speed Two run in a tunnel under Gerrards Cross, then pass close to Seer Green and Beaconsfield with a viaduct at Seer Green and Winchmore Hill before going back into tunnel at Hazlemere.

Detailed plans for High Speed Two were announced by transport secretary Lord Adonis on Friday last week after the idea was first announced in September.

He said the new network, with trains running at 250mph, would be a "step change" for Britain which would add capacity to an overcrowded rail network and promote economic growth.

But people in Bucks are angry that they will suffer blight and disruption with no benefits from the non-stop trains.

A major new interchange is to be built at Old Oak Common in North West London where passengers will be able to transfer on to Cross Rail which will run from Heathrow to Shenfield in Essex, as well as the Heathrow Express.

To bring you the best possible coverage of how the new high speed rail route will affect you, we will be publishing detailed Ordnance Survey maps of the preferred route in this week's editions of the Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Examiner.

The Advertiser and Examiner are out on Thursday March 18.

Useful links:

Map of the preferred route at Denham

Map of the preferred route at the Chalfonts

Map of the preferred route at Amersham

Map of the preferred route at Great Missenden

Official report about the preferred route