Second route option for high speed train will be even closer to towns

Mar 17 2010 By Polly Manser

THERE will be shock in Beaconsfield, Seer Green and Gerrards Cross as residents discover that the second route option for High Speed Two, announced by the Government last week, runs close to or under the towns.

The preferred option for HS2, the country's second high speed rail line to run from London to the North, is through a tunnel under Chalfont St Peter, Chalfont St Giles and Amersham Old Town.

But if that route is rejected, the Department for Transport may turn to its "preferred alternative" route which would pass under Gerrards Cross in a four km tunnel exiting at Siblets Wood and following the existing Chiltern Line as far as Seer Green and Jordans Station.

It would then cross Longbottom Lane on a viaduct, cross the A355 – the report does not state how - and pass north of Beaconsfield in a deep cutting entering a viaduct over the village Winchmore Hill. Eventually it would enter a tunnel at Hazlemere.

This information, and a map, is buried within one of scores of documents about High Speed Two (HS2) on the DfT's website.

Phil Clarke, chairman of Seer Green Parish Council, where residents would be most affected, was astounded.

He said: "Crikey. I knew nothing about this. We were aware of the preferred route of course so I'm very surprised. I imagine if there were a viaduct over Longbottom Lane that the noise would be horrendous."

The existing Chiltern Line would be moved South at Seer Green through woodland and a golf course  to make room for Route 2.5, as it is called, without the need for demolition of houses, according to the report, Route Engineering Study Final Report: A Report for High Speed Two Ltd Chapter 6.

A separate report on the DfT website states: "Route 2.5, which follows the Chiltern corridor via Beaconsfield with a larger proportion in tunnel, is slightly inferior overall, but there is a genuine choice to be made here."
See High Speed Rail London to the West Midlands & Beyond, A Report to Government by High Speed Two Ltd,, summary.

You can view a map and description of Route 2.5 at www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/routeengineering/pdf/chapter6.pdf
The map is on page 167.

See our March 18 editions of the Advertiser and Examiner for detailed OS maps of the preferred route through Chalfont St Peter,  Chalfont St Giles, Amersham and Great Missenden, and reaction.