March date for key railway report

Dec 15 2009 by William Green, The Journal

THE North East faces another three-month wait to discover whether it will be linked into a new high-speed rail link from London.

The Government will publish plans for a North-South high-speed rail network by the end of March.

A specially set-up company, HS2, is due to report to ministers on the options at the end of this month.

But Transport Secretary Lord Adonis insisted the HS2 report could not be published before the Government’s proposals because that risked unnecessary planning “blight”.

Yesterday the Tories claimed Labour was dragging its heels and may be powerless to act if a General Election is held before the proposals come out.

The developments came as Gordon Brown hailed the start of the UK’s first full domestic high-speed rail services from Kent to London – although passengers are footing the bill for the 140mph Javelin trains.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: “The potential for high-speed rail (HSR) to regenerate and reinvigorate is now a reality for people in Kent.

“But the size of Britain’s high-speed network lags behind that of many of our European neighbours and doesn’t connect any of our major cities.

“This month I expect to receive a report which has the potential to change all that. This will require careful study and scrutiny – which will begin with immediate effect – before we can announce how we plan to take HSR forward.”

HS2’s report will present a detailed route plan for the first stage of the line from London to the West Midlands.

There will options to go further, including the North East. Funding options will be discussed, including a potential new central London station.

Ministers plan to unveil their proposals in March followed by a full public consultation next autumn.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said only a Conservative government could “guarantee” to bring HSR to the North – although the party has only pledged to build the line as far as Leeds.