High speed trans-pennine rail link would be worth £10bn

Mar 20 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

A HIGH-speed rail link between Liverpool and Leeds would help deliver a £10bn boost to Britain, an inquiry by MPs was told yesterday

The Northern Way pressure group told a Commons committee that the Government was badly underestimating demand for train travel as the economy grows.

And it put a “Trans-Pennine Connector” – a new high-speed line to bring Liverpool closer to Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds – top of its list of priorities.

In evidence to the trans-port select committee, the Northern Way said the route was at least as important as its other target, building high-speed North-South lines on both the west and east of the country.

No price has been put on the three routes, but the Northern Way has calculated that faster journey times and more reliable services would boost the North’s economy by £3.5bn.

But Professor David Begg said that was only a third of the total economic gain to the nation over 60 years from “integrating the North and South economies”.

The chairman of the Northern Way’s transport group told the MPs: “When we investigated, we were surprised by just how important the Trans-Pennine link is. We think it’s absolutely critical.”

He added: “It is better to introduce new high-speed rail lines than to add extra capacity to existing lines, with all the upheaval associated with that.”

Criticising the Govern-ment’s short-termism, Professor Begg said: “We have to look further than five years ahead – and that needs to take place sooner, rather than later.”

The committee is carrying out an inquiry into the department for transport’s 30-year strategy for the railways, published last year.