HSR vital to our future connectivity
Published by Anne Marie Hughes on Sat 09 Jun 12 @ 22:10
Chamber chief executive Stuart Patrick, writing in his blog on this website, has encouraged the Scottish business lobby to "spell out the overall benefits" of High Speed Rail and help the delivery of the project.
As the consultation for the phase one component gets underway, he said it should be realised there are "powerful lobbies" in the South that are not convinced.
He added: "We remain positive about HSR because there is no question if the journey time from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh was reduced to three and a half hours that the domestic shift from air to rail would happen en masse. Anything up to 80% of business travelers would change.
"Our enthusiasm for HSR is high, with the only challenge coming from the minority who would argue that the same results could be achieved through investment in the existing West Coast Main Line. The Chamber doesn't believe that is the case in the long term, and that bringing HSR to Scotland is vital to our future connectivity."
