Council leaders from Cardiff and Bristol are backing calls from Professor Stuart Cole of the University of Glamorgan’s Business School for a High Speed Rail Link connecting south Wales and the south west of England to London.
Addressing a conference of Cardiff’s Ambassadors at the Vale Resort (Thursday, 20 May), Professor Cole will outline the economic imperative for the provision of High Speed Rail (3) which could see journey times between Cardiff and London reduced to 1 hour and 10 minutes. The proposals put forward by the previous administration at Westminster favoured High Speed Rail (HS2) between London and the north of England and Scotland but excluded south Wales and the south west of England.
Ahead of the conference organised by Cardiff & Co, Professor Stuart Cole said, “High Speed Rail will change our perception of the geography of the UK. The emphasis will move from one of distance between areas to the time it takes to make that journey. For all intents and purposes, it will result in a shrinking of the map of the UK for those areas covered by High Speed Rail. For example the journey between London and Leeds would be almost halved to 1 hour and 20 minutes. Clearly, there would be significant economic benefits for those areas benefiting from High Speed Rail, to the detriment of those areas excluded from it – the whole of Wales, under the proposals currently on the table.”
He added, “In their submission to the previous Government, Northern Way, proposed 5 High Speed Rail corridors in the UK, with one running to the west, from London to south Wales and the south west of England. The Government opted for four of those corridors, merged into one but decided against a corridor serving the west. The economic development of the Cardiff city region relies on easy access for people and goods to and from places in Wales, the UK and Europe and around the world. High Speed Rail would provide an attractive route to relocate jobs from London. A company looking to open a new headquarters, for example, is far more likely to favour an area served by quick and efficient rail links.
“The current proposals are clearly iniquitous and the necessity for High Speed Rail along the ‘Great Western Corridor’ needs to be impressed upon the Department for Transport and the new administration. To this end, there needs to be an effective lobbying strategy and a joint approach between south Wales and the south west of England. The initiative taken by Cardiff and Bristol councils in the establishment of the Great Western Partnership (GWP) is to be welcomed and will play a vital role in taking this agenda forward. High Speed Rail may seem distant at the moment but with the economic stakes so high, the case for south Wales and the south West of England needs to be made without delay.”
Professor Stuart Cole will also use the conference to stress that it vital that the electrification of the Great Western Main Line from London to Swansea is delivered by the end of 2017 as originally committed by the previous Westminster Government. This is a necessary pre requisite for any high speed rail link as it will, following the French model, be built in stages from London. The electrified conventional track will then carry HSR trains until construction of the high speed line is complete
