Training | 2010.01.01
High-speed rail: Time to make tracks
As the old year ended, China launched the fastest train service in the world . As the new one begins, Britain gets a chance to catch up. The government, belatedly, wants to build a north-south fast line. Over Christmas the High Speed Two company presented Lord Adonis , the transport secretary, with detailed plans for the first section. But 250 mph trains dashing between big cities remain just a computer-modelled fantasy. If they are ever to run, this is the moment Labour, the Lib Dems and the Conservatives must agree common terms and make it a shared national project – before the costly, argumentative and muddy part of the project gets under way.
A new line is not a project for this government, and not only for the next one. Its construction will outlast several parliaments and prime ministers. Paradoxically, that is why delay or division now could derail the project. If the current impetus is not used to the full, opposition will grow. Some will worry about the cost, others about the disruptive effects of slicing a line through the countryside from London to Scotland. The railway might end up as one of those good ideas which almost everyone wanted but which, in Britain, turned out to be too hard to do.
No one doubts the opposition\'s enthusiasm – the Tories backed the principle of a new line a year ago, before the government, and George Osborne singled out high-speed rail for support in an interview recently . The test will be whether the party pushes ahead quickly if it wins the election. It makes sense for the Tories to let Labour do the heavy lifting and win a shared mandate for a specific new route on polling day. Planning is advanced. The government will issue a white paper in March which could become, by the autumn, a detailed hybrid bill to gain permission for the route. (The bill, announced last month, intentionally keeps the project clear of the new Infrastructure Planning Commission , which the Tories oppose.) But even on this timetable, passing the law will take at least three years, followed by financing. Construction is unlikely to start until 2017, with trains running in 2025.
Any hesitation after the election – perhaps to map out an alternative route, as the Tories say they may do – would push the project into the parliament after next. What the project needs is a heavyweight champion to keep it on track. The shadow transport minister, Theresa Villiers , lacks clout. This is the moment for the Tories to appoint someone who believes in great national projects and has a record of making them happen quickly. So step forward, Lord Heseltine . Britain\'s transport revolution could be your lasting monument.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/[...]02/high-speed-rail-make-tracks
