New images of how the high speed rail station could look at Curzon Street in Birmingham have been released.

The plans have been sketched out by leading Digbeth-based architect Glenn Howells.

His glimpse of the future shows sweeping glass roof covering platforms where passengers would step aboard the 400-metre long double-decker trains and be whisked to London in just 49 minutes.

But there will also be a nod to the city’s architectural heritage as the 1838-built Grade I-listed frontage of Curzon Street station would be used as the main entrance.

Mr Howells – the man responsible for reviving the Rotunda and Custard Factory landmarks – has included parkland, offices and flats within his new blueprint.

He was appointed by the city council to redraw plans for the city last year when the Government announced proposals for the £17 billion first phase of a high speed network.

The designer said he hoped to attract world class artists to exhibit works in public spaces surrounding the station.

Regional transport body Centro released the image that will feature on forthcoming leaflets to make the case for the HS2 line.

Objectors claim the line is unnecessary and result in large parts of the countryside being destroyed.

But transport bosses will reveal in the brochures that an extra 52 trains an hour will be able to run between stations in the Black Country and destinations like Birmingham Airport, London, Milton Keynes and Scotland.

Walsall would get inter-city trains for the first time and services between Wolverhampton and Dudley and Sandwell stations and London would be doubled to two per hour.

Centro chief executive Geoff Inskip said the new timetable could be achieved because high speed rail will free capacity from the choked West Coast Mainline.

“HS2 is the only answer,” he said. “I think the benefits to the Black Country and other areas are very clear and they are huge.

“If we don’t have HS2, we are in great danger of losing a lot of local rail services.”