by René Lavanchy
LABOUR MPs have called on the Government to build new railways to “invest our way out of the recession” after rail minister Andrew Adonis declared his support this week for a high-speed bullet line to Manchester.
Louise Ellman, chair of the Transport Select Committee, told Tribune that building a dedicated line for freight trains would free up capacity on Britain’s increasingly crowded main lines for more passenger trains and provide a boost to the economy.
The proposal, presented to Lord Adonis and Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon last month, is reported to have the backing of Channel Tunnel operator Euro Tunnel and major supermarkets.
Ms Ellman said she agreed with building a high-speed line, but that it was not enough on its own: “I’m very much in support of high speed rail. It’s partly to do with increasing capacity – even with the planned increase in carriages, the railways will still be overcrowded – but it’s also about freeing capacity for freight as well. We often talk about passenger transport, but freight is vital.”
Lord Adonis told the Financial Times last week that there was a “very strong case” for a 200 mph line from London to Manchester via Birmingham, and that he also favoured electrifying the Great Western main line from London to Bristol and the Midland main line.
He suggested a new high-speed line could be built within 15 years. But MPs backing a new freight line say their plans could be implemented much quicker.
Kelvin Hopkins, a member of rail union ASLEF’s parliamentary group, said: “We’ve got a detailed scheme which is practical, cheap to build and would provide a large-gauge freight line linking all the population centres in the country. Our scheme could be started now.”
Freeing up capacity would allow 140 mph services on the existing west coast main line, he added.
“Investment in infrastructure is absolutely right. It echoes the Roosevelt New Deal in the 1930s. It’s much more sensible than spending £12 billion pounds on reducing VAT by one trivial amount – three times what it would cost to build our railway line.”
Lord Adonis’ remarks may mark a reversal in Government policy on the future of the railways. In their 2007 white paper, ministers rejected building high-speed links between cities as poor value for money.
MP Alan Simpson also backed the high-speed line: “We had a meeting with Andrew Adonis to go through precisely this line of argument. We would argue the case for the line going further, to Scotland.”
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