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High speed rail 'scandal'
THE leader of Sheffield Council has dubbed the city's lack of high-speed rail link to London a "scandal" – and thrown his weight behind plans for a £15 billion new line.
Coun Paul Scriven is urging the Government to invest in a route with 150mph trains linking Yorkshire to London in just over an hour.
And he wants ministers to have "the imagination to make high-speed, affordable rail travel our future".
Mr Scriven spoke out after proposals were published for 'High Speed North'. According to the report's author, Harrogate-based railway engineer Colin Elliff, it would cost less than 15bn to build, and raise many billions for the local economy.
His work is being sponsored by southern councils opposed to the expansion of Heathrow.
Mr Scriven said: "I wholeheartedly welcome these ideas and I hope all of Sheffield can join me in supporting the Fast Track to Yorkshire campaign.
"Sheffield is in the dark ages as far as high-speed rail is concerned. The Government must have the imagination to make high-speed, affordable rail travel our future.
"In an age where China is building railways that can achieve speeds of 268 miles per hour, it's a scandal that our region is being left so far behind. We can't afford for more and more people to use air travel as an alternative.
"The cost of these plans pales into insignificance compared to what has been spent on rail projects in London under this Labour government. The bill for London's Crossrail scheme alone looks likely to exceed what this project would cost.
"I urge ministers to look urgently at this scheme and give Sheffield the sustainable, high-speed travel it needs for future generations."
The Government has commissioned a quango to draw up a route linking London to Birmingham and then heading north – but it is likely to go to Manchester then Glasgow.
That would condemn Yorkshire to second-class transport links for a generation and deal a heavy blow to the region's economy.
Sheffield Hillsborough Labour MP Angela Smith, a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Transport, admitted investment in high-speed rail was "long overdue".
She added: "But at long last there is a growing cross-party consensus that Britain has to catch up with its European neighbours. I welcome therefore the Government's establishment of a company to develop high-speed options.
"But we must be careful not to see high-speed investment as a one off; we need to agree on what a complete high-speed network might look like and then develop the routes on a phased basis.
"Of course, I would favour the fastest possible links to Sheffield as part of any first phase, but we must remember that ultimately the best interests of Sheffield, and the north of England more generally, would be served by routes in both the east and the west of the country, linked by a new route across the Pennines."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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