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A new train service which will bypass London but provide a key link to the south's major airports is on the cards for Kent.

HS4Air, known as High Speed for Air, is proposing to land at Ashford International Station and connect the south east of the country with other high speed links, as well as faster travel to airports.

The proposal, developed by engineering consultants Expedition director Alistair Lenczner, could see a high speed connection that links the existing HS1 line with the planned HS2 line passing via both Gatwick in Crawley and London Heathrow.

HS4Air will also include a connection to the Great Western Main Line railway (GWML) to the north of Heathrow airport.

The £10 billion project, which has been dubbed an "M25 for high speed trains" is thought to only be in its planning stages.

There is no timeline of when any decisions will be made, when any work to enforce it will start, or how much tickets will be priced at.

(Image: Expedition)

The blue line in the picture above shows the HS1 link through Kent to London and further afield, and the red lineis where the new HS4Air line could come into place.

'Much faster journey times'

Mr Lenczner, who has led the development, said: “HS4Air has been developed to allow rail and aviation infrastructure projects in south east England that are currently unconnected to become joined-up.

"This will offer greatly enhanced benefits for users and provide better value for the investments currently being made in the UK’s strategic infrastructure.”

“In a way HS4Air can be regarded as a high-speed railway version of the M25 around London, except that it allows much faster journey times with no congestion and with far less impact on the environment”.

“The proposed HS4Air project is an example of integrated strategic planning that spans across multiple infrastructure sectors that are too often planned within separate “silos”.

"Such integrated planning allows projects to achieve better results in terms of their land-use efficiency and investment value.”

The 'multiple benefits'

Fast direct rail access to both LGW and LHR from major cities north and west of London including Birmingham, Manchester and Cardiff

Dramatically reduced journey times for rail journeys between south east England and the Midlands, North and West UK

Direct high-speed train services from Manchester and Birmingham to Europe via the Channel Tunnel

A 15-minute transfer time between LGW and LHR allowing them to share operations

Fast rail freight services by-passing London to allow dramatically faster logistics operations

Relief for London’s rail network leaving more capacity for Londoners.

HS4 is said to be beneficial and non-harmful to the south east by passing in tunnels under sensitive rural environments such as the North Downs and will re-use the existing railway between Ashford to Tonbridge.

It said approximately 40 per cent of HS4Air’s geographic route re-uses the existing Network Rail railway running between Tonbridge and Ashford.

"Being almost dead straight, this railway can be readily upgraded for the running of high-speed trains," it said.

Approximately 20 per cent of HS4Air will run in tunnels, a statement from the company has said, running west along the M25.

Manston snubbed in plans

While Ashford International is one of Kent's main stations for the High Speed and the Eurostar, these ambitious proposals do not stretch as far as Thanet.

Land at Manston Airport was rejected as a site for houses and businesses in January when the Local Plan was voted out by councillors.

While developers still have big plans for it, there are still hopes that Manston could return to being an aviation site.

But the HS4Air, a proposed train service purely to link airports, does not go as far as Thanet - as the above map demonstrates.