On the right lines

Though the precise route is open to conjecture, the policy per se has gained a momentum of its own, with Ministers currently studying the report prepared by their consultants.

The danger is that this goodwill is lost when a new government faces up to the consequences of Britain's record debt burden. Such a risk is even greater if the party in power also changes.

This must not be allowed to happen – a point made forcefully by Tory grandee Lord Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, at the launch of a new policy document prepared by the Bow Group, a centre-right think-tank.

Continuity, he says, is critical. The inherent weaknesses in Britain's road and rail network, exemplified by the transport difficulties encountered in Yorkshire on a daily basis, demonstrate the urgent need for schemes like high-speed rail, backed up by locally-driven improvements along key commuter routes.

Yet the complexity of the planning process means that it could be at least two decades from now before the first high-speed trains operate between London and, hopefully, this region if this newspaper's Fast Track to Yorkshire campaign is ultimately successful.

That is why the high-speed rail initiative must be accelerated after polling day rather than being shunted off into the sidings, the final destination of so many policies championed at election time.