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CHEAPER

£20bn less than existing plans for HS2 & HS3.

BETTER CONNECTED

Improves 94% of journeys and reduces journey time by an average of 40%.

CLEANER

Saves 600 million tonnes of CO2 and avoids the Chilterns AONB.

SMARTER

Improves regional rail across the UK and integrates with the existing rail infrastructure.

High Speed UK - Connecting the Nation

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COLIN ELLIFF BSc CEng MICE

CIVIL ENGINEERING PRINCIPAL

Colin Elliff is a chartered civil engineer who has worked in the railway industry for all of his professional life.

After graduating from Bristol University, Colin joined British Rail Eastern Region in 1980 as a Civil Engineering Management Trainee, working under the guidance of Chief Civil Engineer Brian Davis. After working in a variety of design and construction roles on bridge and station reconstruction projects Colin gained Chartered Engineer status in 1988, and in 1989 he transferred to the Southern Region; there he was engaged in major station reconstruction projects at Waterloo, London Bridge and Portsmouth Harbour, and also on smaller bridge reconstruction and electrification projects.

Upon privatisation in 1995, Colin transferred to a major railway consultant, and continued working on key projects such as Thameslink and East London Line reopening, and also on a variety of electrification, resignalling and route upgrade projects.

Whilst engaged in these projects, Colin maintained an interest in wider railway issues, in particular the development of new high speed lines to augment the existing railway network. Colin’s well-reasoned views upon responsible and optimised development of the UK railway network proved increasingly unpalatable to his consultant employer, for whom HS2 Ltd was a major client. After suffering a gagging order and collecting a series of disciplinary letters, Colin resigned in 2013 to be free to pursue his railway interests full-time.

Colin is a published technical author, with the following major papers and reports to his credit. Click on each for further details:

Rails around London – in search of the Railway M25 (Institution of Civil Engineers, 2001)

High Speed Rail – Where are the Engineers? (Permanent Way Institution, 2008)

HS2 – High Speed to Failure – 22 Reasons why the Government’s experts have got it wrong (2016)

HS2 – High Speed to Nowhere – Putting HS2 Ltd’s Promises… to the Test (2017)

The Northern Poorhouse – How the Transport Establishment failed the People of the North (2018)

QUENTIN MACDONALD BSc (Eng.), C.Eng., FIRSE., MIET

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PRINCIPAL

Quentin is a Chartered Electrical Engineer with 52 years continuous experience in the Railway Industry.

He joined British Rail as an Engineering Graduate in 1961 and specialised in Railway Signalling and Telecommunications until 1994 when he became a railway consultant working on projects such as the re-development of the West Coast Main Line and the European Rail Traffic Management system (ERTMS/ETCS).

His particular skills and experience include: the development of new railway lines; strategic and business management in a railway engineering context; safety and quality management systems; chairing multi-national technical meetings and knowledge of European and world-wide railways and signalling systems.

In parallel with his engineering career, Quentin has been an active local politician including 12 years as a City of York councillor; 4 of them as a member of the Executive. This has given him considerable insight into the political process including valuable contact with the national political scene.

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