Monday 02 November 2009
High speed rail campaign group, HSR\\UK, will use the Core Cities Summit in Liverpool this week to call on all the main political parties to raise their game in their election manifesto plans for a high speed rail network.
HSR\\UK, (comprised of eleven major UK cities), believes that a high speed rail network for Britain should be designed to bring wider economic, environmental and business benefits, as well as tackling the capacity shortfall of the classic rail network. This would give Britain a high speed network to rival that of European cities such as those in France and Germany.
HSR\\UK campaign chair Sir Richard Leese said: “The two major challenges facing our next government will be the economy and the environment. A far-reaching high speed rail network that serves the main economic hubs of the UK will help to succeed in both of these areas.”
Developing a high speed network would free up capacity on the conventional railway for short distance local travel, as well as for freight, which would improve connectivity between regions allowing cities to grow their labour markets. High speed rail would also make it easier to open up new business opportunities, increasing the dynamism of business activity, while travel from head offices to regional offices becomes faster and more accessible.
Leese added: “From here in Liverpool to London would take almost 2 hours 10 minutes to travel by train this week but with a high speed rail network in place we could reduce that time for travellers to around an hour and a half.”
The Eddington Transport Study – an examination of the impact of transport decisions on the environment and economy in the UK – has also estimated that the potential carbon savings from transferring Scotland to London air passengers to HSR, could be 0.5 million tonnes per year. Over 60 years this would amount to 30 million tonnes – valued at £3.2 billion. Conventional rail cannot achieve this, and new advances in technology mean that journeys on high speed trains can be as energy efficient as on conventional trains – and in some cases better.
Leese also said: “These impacts would help us address the challenge of the ‘north-south divide’ – the £30bn annual productivity gap that prevents the UK economy from reaching its full potential.
“Experience in Europe has shown that where high speed rail is integrated with cities’ long-term land use planning policies, such a network can lead to massive improvements in regeneration opportunities; places like Lille and Lyon in France, Turin in Italy and Köln in Germany have all benefited from high speed rail.”
“A high speed rail network is on our current government’s policy agenda as a solution to capacity problems on the railway. However, we are now asking all the parties to seriously consider the wealth of benefits that such a network would bring to this country, allowing us to reach our full potential, and urge them to make a firm commitment to a world-class high speed rail network in their election manifestos next year.”