Government is on the right track with high-speed rail

MY home is in north Lancashire, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and less than a mile from the West Coast rail line.

The railway is our friend, part of the environment and we always look out for the special steam trains of yesteryear. The railway does not intrude on our life, we never notice the passage of the very fast trains; conversely, we only notice if there is a gap in service should a train be late or cancelled.

We also like a trip to the capital to see a show perhaps, notwithstanding the fact of four-hour journeys each way and there is never a cheap ticket when you want it. There are not many matinees and an overnight puts up the cost considerably. And if we want to go to the Continent by Eurostar, we have to rise at the crack of dawn to be sure of catching an early afternoon train.

Then there are the bus and train services themselves. Not only are they overcrowded with ancient roiling stock, but in this area they are gradually being whittled down so we have to rely increasingly on the car – and petrol around here is not cheap. True, some of our stations have been upgraded and we are promised some lines will be electrified, a few new trains, but most cascaded off other services.

And what happens when the Government proposes a new high-speed rail link between London and the North? Squeals of anguish from the Chilterns.

So let me spell out the benefits for the vast hordes of citizens who live in the Midlands and the North. Fast new trains between London and Birmingham, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Lancashire and Scotland to start with, and Sheffield, Leeds, York, Newcastle to follow. Say 12 trains an hour with an average load of 250, in each direction, 6,000 passenger journeys. In a 12-hour day, 72,000 passengers, 21,600,000 a year.

Not only that but the capacity created on the existing West and East Coast lines will enable better services to be run to stations closer to London – Northampton, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Coventry, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark and so on, not forgetting the conurbations of Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds. And please don’t say the money could be better spent on upgrading those lines because we’ve been put through misery before with long journeys interspersed by buses while the work is done.

There can be only one conclusion. The message for the Chilterns is the Government is on the right track.

The right course for you is to get good compensation for the problems created, and to work with the powers that be to ensure the construction work is managed in the best possible way.