High-Speed Rail Record

BBC: Lib Dems Plan Air Tax to Aid Rail

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.

icNewcastle: High Speed Railway Link Plans Shelved

According to icNewcastle, the British government has put off a decision to add high-speed rail services between Scotland and London. The government also said that using maglev technology was out of the question. After a new government plan for rail travel was released earlier this week, many passengers and politicians have been upset at some of the proposed changes, which will see only a marginal increase in capacity leading to more crowded trains, higher fares, and a lack of investment in crumbling infrastructure.

icNewcastle: Getting Up to Speed

This article discusses a recent consultant's report that advocates a new high-speed rail line in the UK. The proposed line would go along Britain's East Coast, which differs from earlier proposals that would develop a high-speed line along Britain's West Coast. An East Coast line would bring benefits to the whole nation, but particularly to Scotland, a region that needs additional links to the outside world in order to generate further economic development. The second part of the article discusses the long-term development potential of high-speed or maglev trains to connect the entirety of Britain economically, making transport more accessible and quicker, and thus enabling workers to work in more places.