Scottish Secretary convenes high speed rail talks in London tomorrow
Scottish Secretary has invited the leaders of Edinburgh and Glasgow councils to talks about bringing high speed rail to Scotland.
The Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has invited the leaders of Edinburgh and Glasgow councils to talks with the Secretary of State for Transport about bringing high speed rail to Scotland.
The government has announced plans to create a high speed rail network to increase rail capacity, reduce journey times and to achieve this while meeting our climate change objectives.
Mr Moore has previously held separate talks with both Edinburgh and Glasgow leaders to discuss how the high speed rail network can extend to Scotland. The Scottish Secretary has set up talks with the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond so that the cities can make their case directly to him. The meeting is scheduled to take place in the House of Commons tomorrow (12 January 2011) afternoon.
Speaking ahead of the meeting Michael Moore said:
The new high speed network being planned by the Coalition Government will reduce rail journey times to London. Edinburgh and Glasgow are working hard to make the technical case for high speed rail coming to Scotland. I have heard what the leaders of those cities have to say and I am committed to helping them develop their case inside the government.
I have set up today’s meeting at the House of Commons so that Philip Hammond can understand the benefits our two major cities believe high speed rail can deliver for them. I believe it is a useful opportunity to explore the progress that is being made and what the next steps need to be.
Jenny Dawe and Gordon Matheson will attend the meeting and are the leaders of Edinburgh and Glasgow councils respectively.
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