Tag Archives: east coast mainline

Julian Huppert MP writes: High Speed Rail no longer the transport of the future, but a logistical imperative

Birmingham in 49 minutes, Leeds in 80, and 45 minutes shaved off the journey to Scotland’s major cities. For some, this is reason enough for the Government’s new High Speed Rail line (HS2) – stretching from London in the South, to Manchester in the North-West and Leeds in the North-East.

Many, including myself, would love to see the line extended all the way up to Scotland, providing a real boost to domestic tourism and sustainable growth.

But in amongst the disputes over cost benefit analyses and NIMBYism, there are some startling figures which remind us why High Speed Rail is vital …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 31 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 13 November 2009

The obvious big news this morning is the Glasgow North East Parliamentary by-election – and discussion is already underway here at Iain’s post.

2 Big Stories

My own two stories this morning have a transport/travel/systems-related bent:
East Coast Mainline back under government control

National Express will hand back East Coast Mainline services between London and Edinburgh and the rest of the East Coast franchise just before midnight.

Falling revenue and rising costs left it unable to meet a commitment to pay £1.4bn for the franchise until 2015.

A government company, Directly Operated Railways, will run the franchise for at least 18 months. Ministers say staff and services will be unaffected.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
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