Rail Minister to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow

RAIL minister Baroness Kramer is to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday as the UK Government seeks to highlight the benefits of its planned new high speed rail line HS2 to Scotland.

The news came as Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin today published a detailed report into the 50 million project, which is due to be built in two phases, to the Birmingham area in 2026 and to Manchester and Leeds in 2033.

Mr McLoughlin has said Scottish passengers will benefit from the completion of phase one, with cross Border through trains via HS2 and the west coast main line cutting journeys by one hour.

The Strategic Case for HS2 document Wholesale Fake Sunglasses stated: "We are taking forward a study with the to consider how these benefits could be extended further.

A spokesman said: "We welcome the publication of the Strategic Case for HS2 but again reiterate the essential need to include Scotland from the outset.

"It is vital that a high speed rail network be established across the UK, including Scotland, to secure its future competitiveness and economic prosperity.

"The business case for high speed rail is strong, but stronger with Scotland's inclusion and the economic benefits for Cheap Michael Kors Outlet Britain will be delivered faster if the current plans go further and include Scotland earlier.

This means that for every 1 spent, the wider economic benefit of Michael Kors Outlet the entire scheme will produce a benefit of 2.30 compared with 2.50 estimated last year.

Opponents of the scheme immediately seized on the lower figure as further proof, to them, that the project was a waste of money and should be scrapped.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said it was vital Cheap Replica Sunglasses that costs "stacked up" but Mr McLoughlin stuck to his guns by saying the scheme would bring massive benefits to northern England and was great for commuters.

Mr McLoughlin and the HS2 Ltd team also latched on to another report published yesterday from Network Rail and engineering company Atkins which said there would be 14 years of weekend engineering work if HS2 did not go ahead.

But emphasising the mistrust that exists between the pro and anti HS2 camps, the scheme's opponents spoke of "random figures being pulled out of the air", the Government resorting to "voodoo economics" and areas such as Camden in north London being "blighted for a decade" by HS2.

The new BCR came in a report entitled The Strategic Case For HS2. By completion of the full scheme around 2032 33 with the building of a Y shaped route north of Birmingham to north east and north west England, there would be a trebling of the number of train seats an hour into Euston station in London.

Also, at present there are 13 trains an hour on the West Coast main line. Building HS2 would increase the number on the West Coast corridor to 30 an hour.

Carrying 1,100 passengers, the trains would run at the rate of 14 an hour for the first phase of the project and this would increase to 18 when the full line is completed.

HS2 Ltd director general David Prout said the strategic case was based on HS2 travellers paying the same rate of fares as "normal" travellers.

Pressed on whether there would, in fact, be a premium fare for those using the new line, Mr Prout said it would be his firm intention to advise ministers to have the same fare structure for HS2 as for existing long distance travellers.

HS2 would produce London Birmingham journey times of just 49 minutes, with London Manchester coming down to one hour eight minutes and London Leeds down to one hour 22 minutes.