ICKENHAM Residents Association is calling on the government to extend the proposed HS2 tunnel beyond Ruislip.

People living close to the Chiltern line fear high-speed trains emerging from the tunnel after travelling under West Ruislip station would be noisier than if they were overground.

The 200mph speed limit for trains in the tunnel is higher than the overground speed proposed, which was 155mph.

They say the noise could be projected over a wider area as trains accelerate up to 220mph over the Colne Valley viaduct.

John Collins, who sits on an HS2 sub-committee of the association, said the group was devising an alternative plan.

“We will suggest the tunnel is extended past Ickenham,” he said. “We think tunnelling further could actually save HS2 Ltd money by avoiding a number of obstacles, such as the River Pinn. The route has to have a sharp incline of about 2.5 per cent to cross the river before going through a cutting under Harvil Road.

“By tunnelling further they could avoid disrupting the ecology of the River Pinn, the disruption to Breakspear Road South and cutting through Newyears Green Covert.”

Mr Collins, of The Greenway, said Ickenham would become a focus for anti-HS2 campaigning and the residents’ association would work closely with the umbrella group Hillingdon Against HS2.

But news of the tunnel has been welcomed in parts of Ruislip, particularly by business owners who might have been forced to move their businesses.

Terry Hammond who runs TT Autosport garage in Bell Close, Ruislip Gardens, said: “The tunnel means I can stay here. It is a relief that I haven’t got to look for new premises, although I live in Wendover, so I am still unhappy about the Chilterns.”

David Misseldine, landlord of The Bell pub in West End Road, says he was in favour of HS2 even before he knew it would be tunnelled under his property, instead of built alongside it.

“I am over the moon about the tunnel,” he said, “but even if my pub had been knocked down I would have got about £1.5million compensation, and I can’t argue with that,” he told the Gazette. “We can’t keep protesting against everything.We’d never get anything built.”