Giving the green light to high speed rail

Theresa Villiers has laid out plans to introduce the next phase of high speed rail to the UK, in what she described as a “momentous step forward for Britain’s transport infrastructure”.

A Conservative Government would build a new high speed rail line between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, which would cut journey times between Birmingham and London to 40 minutes and between Leeds and London to less than an hour and a half.

Theresa, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said that high speed rail would have many benefits for the UK:

• Helping businesses and generating huge economic benefits, potentially to the value of £60 billion
• Healing long-standing divisions in our economy by shrinking the distance between north and south
• Relieving over-crowding on existing lines
• Helping to protect future generations from climate change

She announced that a Conservative Government would say no to a third runway at Heathrow, and concentrate instead on the advantages of our high speed rail plan:

“It will leave a lasting legacy for the future - and it will lay the foundations for a high speed network that I believe will one day stretch across the country.”

We will target construction of the new high speed line to begin in 2015, with full completion by 2027.