City could be on East Coast line

A new high speed East Coast mainline could pass through Nottingham, according to a new report.

The study looked at the possibility of constructing a new route from London to Leeds passing through Nottingham going up to Scotland using existing track.

The report by engineering consultants Atkins said the train route could generate £29bn to Britain's economy.

Network Rail said it would look at the options for a new route in more detail over the coming years.

The East Coast Line is one of three options for a new high speed route in the UK, which was looked at as part of work to update research carried out for the Strategic Rail Authority five years ago.

'Economic gain'

Andy Southern, managing director of Atkins' transport planning division, said: "It is clear that a high speed rail network should not only be viewed in terms of its benefit to relieving congestion on the rail network. The economic gain could also be extremely significant.

"Our modelling shows the impact would be felt by local communities as well as the business traveller choosing to go by rail rather than air. There is also potential to reduce overall carbon emissions from transport in the UK."

In a statement Network Rail said: "At some point in the future it is likely we are also going to have to build new lines... and whilst there are obvious advantages to doing this using existing high speed technology, we must not forget the wider picture.

"High speed travel is likely to be one of a multitude of ultimate solutions....we will look at this in more detail in the coming years and the Atkins report will be a useful source of information to feed into that."

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