Plans to deliver high speed rail between Edinburgh and Glasgow have suffered a major setback after Transport Minister Derek Mackay told the Scottish Parliament that the project will not be taken forward.
“It is not possible to progress planning for a high speed rail link between Edinburgh and Glasgow any further until a cross border high speed route is identified,” he said.
The Minister added that the Scottish Government continues to work with the UK Government on a broader study to look into options for extending high speed rail into Scotland.
Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie reacted angrily to the news. “Three years ago the First Minister told us it would be full steam ahead on this project,” he said. “There was a grand ceremony in Glasgow addressed by two Cabinet ministers. Since then they have quietly shelved the project but hoped nobody would notice.
“They could never tell us where the terminus was in either city or the route it would take, but despite this promised that trains would start running 10 years before the first section of High Speed 2 was complete in England.”
CIHT Scotland has expressed its disappointment that any proposed high speed rail route between Edinburgh and Glasgow has been delayed. It supports the delivery of a high speed rail network for the whole of the UK and was encouraged by previous indications that this line in Scotland would be developed.
CIHT Scottish Policy Forum chair Neil Johnstone said: “High speed rail to Scotland would bring benefits to the whole of the UK with the potential to achieve mode shift, environmental and economic gains.”
A position statement setting out CIHT Scotland's views on high speed rail has been published and is available to read,
click here.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “When the Glasgow to Edinburgh high speed rail study was submitted to Ministers for consideration in 2014 the joint study with the Department for Transport was already under way to identify options for extending high speed rail to the north of England and Scotland.
“Findings of the Glasgow to Edinburgh study, including indicative costings, have to be considered by Ministers as part of the wider joint study with Department for Transport in order to provide the most robust and cost effective outcome. Ministers expect to be in a position to announce the next steps within the next few months.”
(Image: HS2)
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