UK Government Makes Plans For High Speed Rail Between London and Scotland

It now seems that new plans for a new high speed rail network between London and Scotland could be agreed on as early as March of 2010. This news came from the Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis.

This move would follow an approval of a government backed study into a 200 mile an hour route that would cut journey times to the north of Britain by half to just over two hours. This would make trains, on this kind of route, a realistic option.

So why has the government not jumped on this? Well apparently this is a network that would cost an estimated £34 billion to build. Not only that, but it would take many years to build as well. So even if it’s approved next year, it would still be some time before anyone was riding on this high speed train.

The proposal of the train was be drawn up after Lord Adonis received a report recently from High Speed 2. This is a company that the government set up earlier in the year to draw up detailed plans for a fast north and south rail link. Adonis went on to say that the report was the most detailed examination ever undertaken on high speed rails in Britain.

He said that their high speed network lags behind many other European countries, and it does not connect any of the UK’s major cities. The report will include options for extending the link further north, to northwest England, and the east Midlands. Other areas that would be included are Yorkshire and northeast England and Scotland.