The December 2008 issue of THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE published in London reported that the Conservative Party "has pledged to build a North-South high-speed railway instead of a third runway at Heathrow Airport." The rail line would run from St. Pancras (London) to Heathrow and then on to Birmingham and Manchester with the addition of Leeds. The line is estimated to eliminate the need for 60,000 domestic flights a year but work wouldn't start until 2015 and would not be completed until 2027.
This is a good example of long range planning for the USA to follow and would certainly take the pressure away from the airlines on certain types of routes. It is also a "green" transportation alternative since rail travel pollutes less than air transportation.
I think the reconstruction of St. Pancras for Eurostar service (on which they claim each journey is carbon neutral) included extra platforms for a British high speed service, so it is nice to see these platforms being put to use at some point. Unfortunatey, travel times from the mainland to anywhere much further than London are not competitive, especially because the UK opted out of the Schengen Agreement.