The current M1/M40 arc and Midland Main Line and West Coast Main Line are congested arteries and future growths will require a new corridor to be identified and ideally the railway put back in situ to serve it. Our dossier seeks to open the window on this problem-solution conundrum and calls for route protection policies, realignment spaces where blockages exist and a commitment to club together with neighbouring councils and organisations to invest in feasibility studies and help table the project further towards GRIP status with Network Rail and the Department of Transport. They insist it is Local Authority initiative upwards and outwards. However, they in turn should have a pro-active list and a rolling programme of reopenings/rebuilds for the English Regions, they do for roads, but these deliver traffic to urban centres which then grind to a halt.
We need a Treasury commitment to a more balanced transport approach and that includes re balancing. Some cite that if we cannot afford to do it, we cannot afford not to do it. What other choices are there? More stations on existing lines, longer trains, faster trains and so forth only results in overcrowding and where they will terminate – places like Euston only has a limited number of platforms for example.
If we want more freight by rail, then we have to consider schemes like Great Central revival and I commit this dossier to you in the hope you will, in a 20-year framework, set your council to outline support the idea and work towards it. HS2 will at best create seats but at what wider cost? The Great Central idea would be a much cheaper option yet ironically deliver wider gains – more passenger and freight diversity, links with other conventional rails like East-West Rail and key hubs like the East Midlands.
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