In their election manifesto, the Conservatives pledged to begin work immediately to create a high speed rail line connecting London and Heathrow with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds as a first step towards creating a national high speed rail network to join up major cities across England, Scotland and Wales.
The second stage would involve the delivery of two further new lines bringing the North East, Scotland and Wales into the high-speed rail network.
On Wednesday, we will find out whether this will actually happen. However, let me nail my colours to the mast immediately.
In my opinion, if the UK Government is to build a high speed rail link, then it should start with the Great Western line from London to the West of the country, including Wales.
Why should this be the case? Is this blind patriotism on my behalf? Well, only in one eye.
As the Conservative Bow Group suggested earlier this year, Brunel’s superbly engineered Great Western line could and should take priority over the high speed line to Birmingham and the North, especially as some have suggested that it seems to have been designed all those years ago with a 21st century ultra speed railway in mind.
Yes, at a time of government cuts, it could be the cheapest option for 'piloting' the high speed railway network.
The Bow Group suggests that:
"such a strategic reassessment could deliver a valuable early win of a high speed line to Bristol, Wales and the West, possibly even in advance of a high speed line to Birmingham and the North. This would make use of Brunel‟s superbly engineered Great Western railway which, “still remains one of the world‟s most extraordinary engineering achievements; almost dead flat for 82 miles from Paddington to Wootton Bassett, with long straight alignments linked by curves of huge radius, it seems to have been designed as a twenty first century ultra high speed railway. Electrified and resignalled, it would be potentially capable of operating at over 200 miles an hour."
Certainly the cost would be far less than the proposed northern route and would demonstrate the viability of upgrade and the effect it would have on the Welsh economy. For example, the British Chambers of Commerce has estimated that approximately 70 per cent of travellers to and from Wales utilise English airports, particularly Heathrow. It has suggested that
"high speed rail to Cardiff has the potential to reduce journey times from London to the Welsh capital to 70 minutes. Currently, First Great Western services can only travel at 125mph between London and Bristol Parkway, while the speeds that can be attained in South Wales are much lower. Between the Severn Tunnel and Newport the maximum line speed is 90mph, whereas between Cardiff and Swansea the maximum speed on the majority of the line is 75mph. High speed rail offers the potential to dramatically reduce these times. With a direct connection to Heathrow, the journey time between Heathrow and Swansea can be halved from three hours to just over an hour and a half. Such drastic reductions will allow Wales, and the West of England, to promote themselves to international business as a location offering fast connections to Europe’s main hub airport and, with a link the continent too. Faster commuter travel will also significantly widen the labour pool for businesses on both sides of the border."
Indeed, the absence of a direct train between South Wales and Heathrow adds significantly to journey time and to Wales’ ability and that of its businesses to connect to the rest the world, limiting productivity. Given the years of underinvestment into the rail network in Wales, isn’t it time for Welsh politicians from all parties to work alongside colleagues in the South West of England to lobby the government to make the Great Western line a priority for electrification?
Indeed, you have to wonder why no-one has yet used the Bow Group report as the spur to ensure that the Great Western line becomes first in line for the high speed railway investment proposed by the the coalition government.
p.s. Syniadau has also blogged on the Bow Group document, although as far as I know, its conclusions have yet to be picked up by the BBC in Wales.
