Minister hints at new UK high-speed rail network
East-west and north-south high-speed lines backed by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis
By METRO NEWS REPORTER - Wednesday, November 4, 2009
On the right track: High-speed lines favoured by Transport Secretary After the doom and gloom of Britain's first £1000 rail fare, Transport Secretary Lord Adonis brought a little light at the end of the railway tunnel by hinting at the prospect of an east-west high-speed rail (HSR) line, as well as a north-south one.
A north-south HSR line, running initially from London to Birmingham and possibly further north, is being considered by a Government-created company.

Today, Lord Adonis told the House of Commons Transport Committee that it was right to give a commitment not just to the north-south line, but to an HSR network.

Could we move this to the existing high speed rail thread?

^^^ the other thread was being mean to it, so it ran away...

MP calls for Crossrail to be dropped in favour of Leeds high speed link
20 January, 2010 | By Alexandra Wynne

Labour MP for Leeds West John Battle has today called for Crossrail to be put off until the government gives its backing to a high speed rail link to Leeds.


Battle made the plea to MPs in a Private Members debate on the contribution of Leeds to the economy at Westminster Hall.

“A Leeds high speed rail link should come before Crossrail,” he said.

He described a high speed rail link going up the east coast as “crucial” in an attempt to bring focus away from a high speed link up the west coast route from London to Manchester. “We need to make sure there is a high speed rail link between Leeds and London,” said Battle.

Call for more railway-airport links
(UKPA) – 12 hours ago

Former Conservative minister Lord Heseltine has thrown his weight behind a report calling for any north-south, high-speed rail line to have direct links to major airports.

The report, from the right-wing think tank Bow Group, said the high-speed line should have a direct connection to Heathrow in west London.

Other airports such as Birmingham and Manchester should also get direct links, and it would be "folly" to merely introduce loops or spurs to airports, it added.

Labour MP for Leeds West John Battle has today called for Crossrail to be put off until the government gives its backing to a high speed rail link to Leeds.

This guy is an idiot. We should also cancel construction of the remaining T45s to concentrate on the design stages of the trident replacement. :nuts:

Former Conservative minister Lord Heseltine has thrown his weight behind a report calling for any north-south, high-speed rail line to have direct links to major airports.

The report, from the right-wing think tank Bow Group, said the high-speed line should have a direct connection to Heathrow in west London.

Other airports such as Birmingham and Manchester should also get direct links, and it would be "folly" to merely introduce loops or spurs to airports, it added.

Yet another idiot.

Do we really need this extra thread?

RBRJ - some of the articles you post are really relevant and useful, but they don't all need new threads (right at a time when the forium is a mess) and they don't need to be posted more than once.

You could even describe the content, and post a link instead? It would keep the pages shorter here and tidy it up.

Perhaps a rearrangement of this section is justified.

Stategy?

I think this thread is justified, to seperate out discussion of the actual plans being proposed by govt. and the speculative "what I would if I was in charge" discussions on the other thread.

But theirs nothing in this thread that is significant, no links, no different information, no official information just speculation on an E-W link, a threat by a leeds MP and and support from a back bench tory.

Does this section of SSC actually have any moderation at all? It's becoming more ridiculous by the day.

Half the threads here could be merged into others and it would keep the whole forum a lot tidier.

RailNews
Green light for High Speed rail, says coalition
Posted: 12th May 2010


The new coalition government formed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has said the establishment of a domestic High Speed rail network in Britain is one of its priorities.

A detailed document has been published setting out the policies agreed berween David Cameron and Nick Clegg, who are now Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively.

Although the transport details have yet to be fleshed out, the government has confirmed that a High Speed rail network will be established, although other rail schemes such as Crossrail have not been mentioned at this stage. But some key aviation decisions have been made. There will be no third runway at Heathrow, and no additional runways at Gatwick or Stansted.

ATOC said it was studying the announcement and would comment soon, but the news of a British High Speed network was immediately welcomed by Alstom, which has built High Speed trains for several other countries, including the iconic French TGVs as well as the Eurostar fleet.

Alstom president in the UK, Stephen Burgin, told Railnews it was a positive step in the right direction. "I certainly welcome this announcement. We hope we will be tendering to build High Speed trains for Britain in not too many years from now."