The Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the UK announced a plan Thursday that would put an additional 10GBP tax on internal UK flights, as well as a tax on road freight, in order to fund upgrades to the rail network. The proceeds from the taxes, which could generate 12 billion GBP over five years, would be poured into improving the rail network, including adding high-speed rail links from London to Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Tyneside, Scotland, Bristol, Cardiff, and Exeter. The money would also be used to lengthen trains, cut fares, remove bottlenecks in the system, contribute to capacity addition programs like Crossrail in London, and reopen some closed lines.
