Richard Branson says Britain needs 700mph hyperloop trains

As Virgin Hyperloop One takes shape, transport think tank calls for UK-wide conventional high-speed network

The debate on high-speed rail is accelerating, with proponents of competing schemes insisting they have the best solution for the UK.

Sir Richard Branson has laid out plans for a “hyperloop” network across Britain, carrying passengers at nearly 700mph.

The system proposed by the Virgin founder involves pods travelling over an electro-magnetic track enclosed in a low-resistance tube with very low air pressure.

​Virgin Hyperloop One is intended to have a top speed of 670mph, with some other developers promising even higher speeds.

His firm has built a 500-metre test track in Nevada, and is working on a hyperloop connecting Mumbai and Pune in India.

The Virgin founder told BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme: “Most definitely it could be built in the UK, and it would end up transporting people far quicker, in far greater numbers, with far greater convenience than any other train network in the UK.

“The cost of building Virgin Hyperloop would be, I think, about a third of building high-speed rail, and much, much quicker.

“It can either be underground, it can be on the ground or it can be above the ground.”

Sir Richard said that Heathrow Airport could be connected with Gatwick and Stansted in six and 10 minutes respectively. “Effectively, it becomes one airport,” he said.

“It will be the future of one big, important part of travel.”

The US entrepreneur Elon Musk has founded The Boring Company to construct a network of low-cost tunnels allowing travel from New York to Washington DC in less than 30 minutes.

But Gareth Dennis, an engineer for an international design consultancy, believes that capacity and technical constraints mean hyperloop is not feasible. He tweeted: “Hyperloop is like building a motorway but only letting Rolls Royces use it. Hopeless.”

Meanwhile the environmental transport think tank, Greengauge 21, has called for a conventional high-speed rail network connecting Britain by 2050.

A new report, Beyond HS2, says that the move would put “rocket fuel in Britain’s economy”. It would also reduce the relative advantages of London by lowering journey times between other cities.

While France, Spain, Germany and Italy have extensive high-speed networks, Britain’s only such line is High Speed 1, connecting London with the Channel Tunnel.

High Speed 2, a £56bn, 250mph line connecting London with Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, is planned to open in sections from 2026.

But Greengauge 21 is calling for the same trains to be operated on a new fast corridor from Birmingham to Bristol. In addition, Edinburgh and London should be brought within three hours and 15 minutes, about an hour quicker than at present, with improvements to the East Coast main line.

High-speed tracks are also needed across the Pennines, connecting Liverpool and Manchester with Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Hull, says the report.

Jim Steer, founder and director of Greengauge 21, said: “Fundamentally, we need to completely re-orientate the railway from a ‘hub-and-spoke’ centred on London to a fully national network.

“Britain lacks a long-term national railway strategy beyond HS2.

“We need a plan to put rocket fuel into our economic productivity and today’s report sets out proposals to do so.

“It is vital for the future of the country that no region is left behind, and the national railway strategy needs to reach all parts of the country.”