HIGH-SPEED trains will come directly into Nottingham city centre if proposals being considered by the Government are given the go-ahead.
Ministers have already said they want a station in the East Midlands as part of a £32 billion plan to build a 250mph national rail network.
The Post has now learned Department for Transport officials are drawing up plans to see the super-fast trains rolling into Nottingham Station. A source close to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: "The high-speed trains would stop at a major station in the East Midlands.
"Some of those trains would go further north along the main network, but others would roll on to a branch of track that would run directly into the centre of Nottingham."
Nottingham would join a list of elite cities served by the network - London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. Journey times to destinations around the UK would be cut.
The trains are capable of travelling up to 250mph, but would not travel at those speeds in the city. They would be 400m long and carry 1,100 passengers each.
The high-speed train line is already being planned from London to Birmingham. The line would then split, with one branch going north west to Manchester and a second running through the East Midlands to Leeds.
Officials at High Speed 2 (HS2) Ltd, the group set up by the Department for Transport to plan the network, are looking at placing a major stop in the East Midlands which people from across the region could use.
Documents released by HS2 suggest the main East Midlands stop would either be at East Midlands Airport or a completely new regional station elsewhere.
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