Plans for a new £34bn high-speed railway link between London and Scotland have been unveiled by Network Rail in a bid to meet an expected increase in demand over the next decade.

The High Speed 2 scheme, which will slash journey times between the capital, the Midlands, the North West and Glasgow, will be the second of its kind in the UK after the construction of the Channel Tunnel link between Folkestone and London St Pancras.

Travelling at speeds up to 200mph, Network Rail expects the new service to reduce journey times from London to Birmingham from one hour 22 minutes to 46 minutes, while it is anticipated that journey times will be halved to both Edinburgh (two hours nine minutes) and Glasgow (two hours 16 minutes).

Network Rail, the company responsible for managing Britain's railway infrastructure, produced more than 1,500 pages of research and analysis examining potential routes, passenger demand and economic benefits for the high speed proposals.

Ian Coucher, Network Rail chief executive, said: "Demand for rail travel is growing and our main lines from the north to London are nearly full. By 2020 we will be turning away passengers - that's not what we want.

"We need to start the planning now to meet future demand and the solution is a new high-speed railway to the Midlands, the North West and Scotland. The line has a sound business case that will pay for itself."

Image: Network Rail