Dearne Valley tunnel proposed for 225mph HS2 trains

NEW details about the Government’s controversial high speed railway line have reveal that a tunnel could be built under a Dearne Valley housing estate.

Under the HS2 phase two proposals, trains travelling up to 225mph could plough through parts of Wombwell and Chapeltown with plans for a tunnel in Hoyland.

The £16 billion line will travel through South Yorkshire from Birmingham to Leeds with a new station at Meadowhall.

From there up to 18 trains an hour would pass through parts of Chapeltown, Hesley Woods, across the Dearne Valley Parkway and around Wombwell Wood.

Wentworth and Dearne MP John Healey welcomed the announcement but questioned whether it would get off the ground.

He said: “I welcome the confirmation that the Government is committed to High Speed Rail beyond Birmingham, including a stop at Meadowhall.

“It must be a big opportunity for Rotherham and Barnsley as well as Sheffield.

“But this is a long-term project and the Government have to get this going. In nearly three years, for all their talk so far, they’ve failed to keep the economy moving out of recession and failed to get big infrastructure investments off the ground.”

The HS2 phase two route would see two separate lines running from Birmingham to Leeds (eastern) and Manchester (western) creating up to 5,000 jobs in South Yorkshire.

Journey times to London from the new station at Meadowhall are estimated to be around 69 minutes.

If given the green light next year, the line would not be up and running until 2032/33.

The aim of the HS2 project, which is expected to cost £33 billion for both phases, is to release space on crowded lines and bringing the country closer together.

Details for HS2 phase one, from London to Birmingham, have already been released and work is expected to start in 2017 with the line opening in 2026.

Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin, said: “While the first phase of HS2, between London and the West Midlands, will have an instant effect on journey times from the Midlands to the south of England, phase two will unlock the vast potential of HS2 to transform the whole of Great Britain.”

HS1 opened in 2007 and links London, through Kent, to the UK end of the Channel Tunnel.

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Maps of route.