A Conservative Government will improve Britain’s transport system to strengthen our economic competitiveness, provide better services for travellers and help fight climate change.
THE HIGH SPEED RAIL REVOLUTION
We will build a high-speed rail line connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds with the Continent through the Channel Tunnel. This will:
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Create jobs across the country with a major boost for the economies of the West Midlands and the north
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Provide a greener alternative for thousands of car and lorry journeys clogging up some of the busiest motorways in the country
NO THIRD RUNWAY AT HEATHROW
A Conservative Government will cancel all moves to a third runway at Heathrow. Labour’s reckless plans for a new runway would inflict major damage on the environment and the quality of life of millions of people.
Our goal will be to make Heathrow airport better not bigger. That means breaking up BAA’s monopoly over so much air capacity in the south east, allowing passengers to vote with their feet if they receive poor service and choose an airport run by a different operator. We will also provide a high speed rail alternative to thousands of short haul flights at Heathrow, freeing up landing slots at the airport and helping to deal with overcrowding problems.
IMPROVING BRITAIN'S RAILWAYS
To tackle overcrowding, improve services and ensure the rail industry puts passengers first, we will reform Network Rail to make it accountable to passengers and transform the Rail Regulator into a powerful passenger champion with authority to block the bonuses of Network Rail senior executives.
Find out more about our plans by downloading 'Getting the best for passengers'.
CUTTING CONGESTION
We will focus on tackling the worst bottlenecks on Britain’s roads. In some cases this will mean making better use of the capacity we have; in others, it will mean building new roads. Providing an improved public transport system will also be an important element of our strategy to tackle congestion.
We will put in place measures to deliver a national recharging network to boost greener driving choices and the switch to electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
And we will ensure that overseas trucks who use our roads contribute towards the cost of their maintenance, tackling a long-standing competitive disadvantage for domestic haulage companies.
MAKING LOCAL TRANSPORT GREENER
We will scrap Labour’s attempts to bully local councils into introducing local road-pricing in return for vital transport funding. We will liberate this money, turning it into a Transport Carbon Reduction Fund, allowing local councils and voluntary groups to apply for funding for the green travel initiatives that will work best for their communities, including projects to encourage cycling and improve real-time information and priority measures for bus services.