AN ambitious plan for a £30 billion south to north high speed rail link connecting Heathrow Airport to Edinburgh and Glasgow via the East Midlands, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle has been unveiled by the 2M Group, a consortium of 21 local authorities opposed to airport expansion.

Devised by civil engineer Colin Elliff, the high speed route would be established in stages up to 2030 and link with High Speed 1 – the 186mph line from St Pancras International to the Channel Tunnel - and provide extensive connections between Heathrow and Home counties suburban routes.

Publication of the new plans comes in the wake of Network Rail’s announcement that the company is ‘kick-starting’ a process to look at the need for future rail lines – almost certainly for high speeds – as capacity on the existing system starts to run out.

That announcement came as Conservative politicians backed the case for high-speed rail, a Railway Forum conference again stressed the need for planning work to start and other organisations such as Greengauge 21, put forward suggested routes.

But 2M Group’s newly planned route differs from similar proposals in aiming to connect more cities with the airport. Its spine would follow the M1 motorway from London and serve Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh on its way to Glasgow. Spurs would extend to major cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

2M leaders said ministers’ obsession with building more airport runways made them look increasingly out of touch with modern transport needs.

Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister said: “We are delighted to publish the High Speed North proposals because we want a debate. We have a government that can’t see further than the next runway. It’s time for some imagination in UK transport planning. We don’t pretend for one minute we have all the answers, but at least we’re asking the right questions.”

Richmond leader Serge Lourie added: “The country’s roads are grinding to a halt and all ministers want to do is put more planes in the sky and more cars on the roads. Just expanding the existing Heathrow runways would bring another million road journeys. The real demand is for sustainable transport options that actually help people and businesses move around the country.”

Journey times of just over three hours are envisaged for Sheffield to Paris, just over four hours from Manchester to Amsterdam, five hours 30 minutes from Leeds to Frankfurt and five hours from Glasgow to Paris.

First section of the route would link Heathrow to Leicester, with a branch to Birmingham connecting to West Coast and Midland main lines. A second phase along the M1/M18 corridor would link with the East Coast Main Line in Yorkshire, while the third stage would extend from Sheffield to Leeds via the disused Woodhead Tunnel and Manchester.

The route’s final stage would extend along the M62 corridor to Liverpool and follow the East Coast Main Line and M8 to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

High Speed North would include an interchange at Cricklewood, north London and an integrated ‘super’ terminal connecting Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.

Mr Elliff said: “This plan is about connections to Europe without internal flights and bringing European destinations closer to the UK.”

* The RMT union has welcomed the Transport Select Committee’s call for a stronger and bolder vision for the long-term future of railways and a report by Mps which urges the Government to stop ‘dodging’ the decision to build the high-speed rail links the economy and environment desperately need to develop a genuine 30-year strategy for the industry.