High Speed Rail London to the West Midlands and Beyond: A Report to Government by High Speed Two Limited - Chapter 3c

"Britain built only one new transport network in the twentieth century, the motorway system. Its origins lie in a report prepared for the war time Cabinet and one which attracted all party agreement. The first map of a projected motorway system, in which we can recognise today’s reality, was published in 1946. It was more than a decade later before the first stretch of motorway opened.

The only new network we can expect to build in the twenty first century is for high speed rail. It will be an endeavour just as challenging in terms of cost and timescale as building the motorways. This report sets out the case for building a high speed rail network, how it might be constructed and a vision of how it should look. We envisage a network of high speed lines and services, bringing together the main conurbations of England and Scotland but integrated with the classic railway so that the benefits can be spread more widely. As a first step, we set out in the report a detailed and buildable route from London to the West Midlands.

Building such a network will be the work of a generation. It will need real ambition and consistency of purpose across a succession of Governments. It will require support across the political divide of a kind our forebears showed more than half a century ago.

It will be an enormous challenge simply to build a high speed network. The second challenge will be to make it a success. The new network will only be a twenty first century success if it breaks with twentieth century railway thinking and practices. It makes no sense to spend billions only to recreate today’s railway."

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