Planning processes for a new, north-south high-speed rail route are too narrowly focused on traditional railway priorities, according to the man largely responsible for devising the route of the UK’s only dedicated high-speed line.

Mark Bostock, a consultant at Arup, the engineering consultancy, was speaking as a rail industry pressure group became the latest organisation to present its proposals for a new high-speed rail network. Greengauge 21 advocates a network with two main lines running from London to Glasgow in the west and from London to Edinburgh in the east – a larger network than other studies have recommended.