High Speed Rail for Northern England and Scotland

The Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure Investment and Cities in Scotland and the UK Transport Minister met in Waverley Station to launch two long awaited reports, one from HS2 Ltd on Anglo-Scottish high-speed rail, the other on the case for high-speed rail between Edinburgh and Glasgow.  Their common aim has settled on what the Scottish Ministers have long sought: a three hour journey time from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London.

HSR - 3hrs to scotland

The High Speed Scotland Summary Report sets out the appraisal of a high speed rail connection between Glasgow and Edinburgh, which emerged from initial feasibility work carried out by Transport Scotland when considering potential options for linking Scotland to the high speed network being developed by HS2 Ltd. The report also takes into account the Broad options for upgraded and high speed railways to the North of England and Scotland study, which outlines findings from the feasibility study of delivering journey times of 3 hours or less between London and Scotland, by looking in to upgrade options to the existing West Coast Main Line (WCML) and East Coast Main Line (ECML), and options for high speed routes extending from HS2 Phase Two.

Keith Brown, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities (more…)

Shaw Report published

The Shaw Report into the future of Network Rail has been published and the findings will be considered by the government with a full response issued later in the year. The key objectives of the report were to explore how to give the railway industry a local/customer focus, establish financial Read more…

How industry will build our new high speed railway

HS2 will be the biggest ever single investment in the UK rail network. With this huge level of investment, the industry bears the responsibility to deliver the project as efficiently as
possible and to ensure that taxpayers get the most value for their spend. Last year, High Speed Rail Industry Leaders (HSRIL) produced a report outlining how the rail industry will build Britain’s new high speed railway. ‘Poised to Deliver’ uses examples from its member companies, lessons learnt and experience built up (more…)

Making the most of High Speed Rail

HSRIL held a focus group with business representatives and local politicians in Ashford to discuss the benefits that high speed rail can bring to the local supply chain, and the local economy. Hosted by Hitachi Rail Europe at their flagship Ashford Train Maintenance Centre, the session used HS1 as a case study to focus Read more…