Downing Street Says » High Speed Rail

» Thursday, March 11, 2010

High Speed Rail

Asked why the Government had not started introducing high- speed rail 13 years ago, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that technology was changing all the time in regard to high-speed rail and we were at a juncture now where we could take the decision to invest in this kind of initiative. The Transport Secretary had said at Cabinet that we had a patchwork rail system that had served us reasonably well but now was good time to consider this significant step forward.

Asked where the money was coming from to fund the project, the PMS advised people to wait and see what kind of detail was in the statement. No one was underestimating the fact that these were major infrastructure investments, but this was a long-term initiative and therefore there were different ways of financing that.

Asked if any estimates had been given for the number of jobs it would create, the PMS replied that he was sure those estimates had been given, but he would get back to people on the exact number.

Asked why the UK was so far behind some other countries when it came to high-speed rail, the PMS said that he was not a transport expert, but part of the reason was the nature of the way our railway network was set up. The rail network started as a series of railways that ran independently, so therefore they grew up on an independent basis. This had then been joined up subsequently, which differed from some other countries more comprehensive approach.

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