Railways

My Lords, noble Lords will be familiar with the fact that I live equidistant from Edinburgh and Glasgow; hence there is now competition for my conveyance by rail to the House. I am happy to say that now the east and west coast main lines are in genuine competition with each other because they both offer the same timing, which is very good. I have also entered London through St Pancras and Marylebone, although those lines are not yet in competition with the east and west coast lines, nor do I expect them to be. As the Minister will have predicted, I am disappointed by the fact that we seem virtually to have abandoned the north-south high-speed line. Are we really giving up the fight for rail/air substitution on the Scotland to London route? One thing that I have learnt from having campaigned for—I now live beside it—the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway, which is 11 miles long and had a track bed that was legally intact, is exactly how long it takes to do a relatively simple task. Therefore, I am very worried by the fact that the Government do not seem to be pressing ahead with any form of high-speed line to the north. I hope that we might hear fairly soon, starting on an incremental basis, how a high-speed line from London to Crewe might be actively pursued as a real option. It may not be needed now, but it will be very soon. It would be a great pity not to get on with actively planning such a high-speed line.