In 1991, the Government abandoned the route drawn up by British Rail for the country's first high speed line, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now HS1), and instead supported the alternative proposal developed by my team at Arup. The reason for that reversal? Because our proposal connected far more effectively with existing transport infrastructure, limited the environmental impacts of the railway by following existing transport corridors and tunnelling through sensitive rural and urban areas, adopted an appropriate design speed (300kph) to allow flexibility in alignment and offered vast regeneration benefits to east London.
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