High Speed Rail

Today’s announcement of the proposal to build a high speed link, up to 250mph it seems, between London and Birmingham as the first leg of an expanding network is one of the best transport announcements since WWII. All parties are in favour. There is some jockeying for position and the Tories, with an eye to marginals near the proposed route, are trying to make out they may have a better idea, but broadly everybody is in agreement that this makes good sense, not just in itself, but is just the kind of project to help us forward economically.

The Thatcher years left many good things in place but some bad ones too. One of the worst was the general disinterest in infrastructural renewal and of rail modernisation in particular. A trip to Europe reveals just how far we have slipped and a major drive to give us a twenty first century railway is long overdue. I would like to balance it by reclaiming defunct branch lines as rural tramways. To go eco we need to do a lot more to revolutionise transport both personal and public. Lots of opportunity here.