TRANSPORT Secretary Justine Greening will today attempt to assuage fears that a £32 billion high-speed rail link will be of little benefit to Scotland as she delivers a decision on the first phase of the project.
In a statement to the Commons, expected to approve construction of a controversial route between London and Birmingham, Ms Greening will talk up the benefits to cities in the north of England and Scotland's central belt, where the 200mph trains will continue at slower speeds.
But she will offer business leaders in Scotland little solace as she confirms that passengers in Glasgow and Edinburgh will see average journey times to London cut to four hours –only half an hour quicker than at present – when phase one of the High-Speed 2 (HS2) project is completed in 2026, at a cost of £17bn.
A second phase, which will see the network extended from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds, will cut journey times to three hours, 30 minutes from both Scottish cities when completed six years later, a saving of one hour.
Ms Greening will stress that extensions to the network, which could bring London-Scotland journeys to under three hours, are possible but is not expected to give any further details.
Her statement comes after the Scottish Government last month gave its first commitment to building a high-speed link north of the Border to ensure that Scots are not left out.
A source at the Department for Transport said: "No-one uses a motorway to get all the way from their front door to their final destination, but they use it because it offers high capacity and faster services – precisely what HS2 will offer rail passengers."
Scotland's Transport Minister Keith Brown said it was "disappointing" there was still no commitment from Westminster to bring high-speed rail to Scotland. He said a report concluded the case for high-speed rail in the UK is "strong, but is stronger when Scotland is included".
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