New Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to continue with HS2 project
The newly-appointed Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend he had “no plans to back away from the HS2 project.”
He stressed that the line is as much about capacity as it is about speed and said it would help ease congestion on overcrowded trains: “The thing that's important for people to understand is that HS2 is not simply a speed project, it's a capacity project.
“We have lines at the moment which have seen huge increases in the number of passengers, the amount of freight in recent years.
"The West Coast mainline for example is becoming really congested, it's limiting the capacity of services to places like Northampton and Milton Keynes.
"HS2 has always been a capacity project as much as a speed project.
"Of course it makes sense if we're going to build a new railway line for it to be a fast railway line, to increase travel times or reduce travel times from north to south, that's logical.”
Please register to comment on this article
Latest news....
09/03/2020 - 11:50
More than 3.6 million additional cars were licensed between 2009 and 2019, enough to cover the entire British coastline.
06/03/2020 - 10:00
A cross-party group of MPs have launched a new parliamentary inquiry into bus services in shire counties and rural areas.
11/02/2020 - 10:00
Boris Johnson confirms HS2 will go ahead, alongside radical improvements to local transport networks across the country.
14/08/2019 - 09:50
The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued new guidance to help prevent terrorists getting access to commercial vehicles to be used in attacks.
13/08/2019 - 09:48
The Transport Committee recommends that government extends the ban on hand-held devices to hands-free phones
