Fast rail route details become clearer

Mar 31 2010 Buckinghamshire Advertiser

THE preferred route for High Speed Two is in a tunnel underneath the Chalfonts and Amersham followed by a series of cuttings and viaducts to Wendover.

The tunnel would commence at the M25 and emerge at the Western end of Amersham Old Town, close to St Mary's Combined School in School Lane. For most of this length it would be at least 30m underground. Emergency access and egress tunnels would be built every two kilometres, with some new access roads built.

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 tunnel between Little Missenden and Hyde Heath.

It would then run for 2km in a cutting less than 10 metres deep near South Heath, 'passing through one hamlet and requiring a number of roads to be modified,' according to the DfT.

A 450m viaduct would take trains over a steep valley known as Wendover Dean and a second viaduct, 600m long, would take them over the A413, then pass Wendover close to the junction of Nash Lee Road and Nash Lee Lane.

The alternative route for HS2 passes through Denham, requiring the widening of the Chiltern Line and the rebuilding of Denham Station.

It then passes under Gerrards Cross in a tunnel and follows the existing Chiltern Line as far as Seer Green. It crosses the A355 pass north of Beaconsfield, north of Penn and through Tylers Green. It would cross the village of Winchmore Hill on a viaduct and enter a tunnel at Hazlemere.

The report High Speed Rail London to the West Midlands and Beyond, A Report to Government by High Speed Two Ltd, states that the alternative route 'is slightly inferior overall, but there is a genuine choice to be made here'.