Plans for a high speed railway have sparked fears of residents in this area losing their homes and traffic chaos during the construction.

Although the new line linking London to Birmingham will mostly follow existing routes through industrial areas, its path will take it through residential Perivale and the busy traffic hub Hanger Lane as it follows the path of the Central Line.

Ealing North MP Steve Pound said as many as 26 homes in Perivale could be affected by the new line dubbed High Speed Two.

He added: "It comes out of Old oak Common, down to the Hanger lane Gyratory, runs parallel to the north of the A40, back into industrial areas and across the bridge to Perivale Station. Once past the station it goes into a very built-up, residential area. I think it is in the national interest for us to have a high-speed rail service but not at the expense of the people of Perivale."

There is some consolation for Ealing residents: an Exceptional Hardship Scheme means the government would buy the homes of those affected at full market rate.

And the trains will run at regular speeds while travelling through the borough. They will be out of London before they reach up to 225 miles an hour, a speed which will take them about seven and a half miles to stop.

Old Oak Common, on the borders of Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham boroughs, has been chosen as the preferred site for a transport hub linking High Speed Two with Crossrail and services to Heathrow.

Ealing Council leader Jason Stacey is also concerned about the plans. He said: "I saw the map of the route and it set off quite a few alarm bells. We want to know more about the impact it's going to have on the people who live here as we understand there will have to be demolition of properties to enable it to happen. The devil is in the detail and the first bit of detail has not been great."

The plans are by no means certain and if they did go ahead High Speed Two would not be built until 2026 with construction not starting until 2019.

Euston would be the central London station and it would cut journey times to Birmingham by 30 minutes, reducing travel time to about 50 minutes.

Future networks from Birmingham up to the north of England and Scotland are to be proposed, creating a larger high-speed network.

Announcing the plans yesterday, transport secretary Lord Adonis said the network would 'enable key local, national and international networks to be better integrated.'

And referring to the Old Oak Common interchange he added: ""Such a Crossrail Interchange station would deliver a fast and frequent service to London's West End, the City and Docklands giving a total journey time, for example, from central Birmingham to Canary Wharf of just 70 minutes and from Leeds to Canary Wharf of just 1 hour 40 minutes.

"This Crossrail Interchange station would also provide a fast, one-stop Heathrow Express service to Heathrow, in place of the long and tortuous journey to the airport currently experienced by passengers arriving at Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras."

The Gazette was still waiting for a response from the Department for Transport to the concerns surrounding the impact High Speed Two will make on the borough.