Brian Binley MP for Northampton South has welcomed the House of Commons Transport Select Committee’s report published today supporting the Governments plans for High Speed 2.
The report states; we support a high speed rail network for Britain, developed as part of a comprehensive transport strategy also including the classic rail network, road, aviation and shipping. We believe that HS2 could form part of this network and provide substantial improvements in capacity and connectivity for inter-urban travel.
Brian said: “Northampton would benefit especially from the additional capacity that will be provided as a result of High Speed 2. It would free up the West Coast Main Line (WCML) hugely and as today’s report suggests, proposals to simply upgrade the existing West Coast Main Line, given the recent substantial growth in passenger numbers might seem inadequate.”
“Northampton is expected to build an additional 59,000 homes by 2026 which is an additional 120,000 people. 5,000 people per day already commute to London and we will have another 12,000 who will wish to do so; we will fail without high speed 2. We need to create another 85,000 jobs; we will fail without high speed2.”
“Last week I praised the Government when they announced that Virgin would continue with the current WCML franchise and that they had found 28,000 seats in additional capacity on the WCML per day. But we must look to High Speed 2 if we are to solve the current congestion and capacity problems.”
“The UK has sometimes been accused of failing to invest sufficiently invest in its transport infrastructure and I think that a major piece of Government investment for the long term future of our Nation should be welcomed- particularly if it is of potential benefit to Northampton.”
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