17 October 2008
High-speed rail evidence paper published
Transform Scotland have today submitted its evidence to the Scottish Parliament Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee's
'Inquiry into the potential benefits of high-speed rail services'.
Colin Howden, Director of Transform Scotland, said:
"We support Anglo-Scottish high-speed rail so long as the express purpose is to make substantial reductions in the number of short-haul flights between Central Scotland and London. "We do not support high-speed rail just to encourage more travel – it has to reduce trips by road and by air. We certainly don't support plans for maglev or fantasies about stand-alone high-speed routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow."Our evidence paper argues that a lot can be learned from the German experience. In Germany, a comprehensive high-speed rail service has been delivered without waiting for the construction of new high-speed lines. We believe that Scotland can and should have the same quality of inter-city rail services that the Germans currently benefit from. A narrow focus on construction of new high-speed lines misses the point that high-speed rail services can be delivered as part of an incremental improvement to rail capacity."