A decision on whether to extend the HS2 high-speed rail link to Scotland has yet to be made by ministers, the UK Government has said.
Journey times between London and Birmingham will be reduced as part of the first phase of HS2, before a second phase will see the high-speed line split in two towards both Manchester and Leeds.
Politicians in Scotland hope the line will eventually be brought north of the border to reduce the journey time from Glasgow or Edinburgh to London to around three hours.
The Department for Transport said that advice on the options for high-speed rail to Scotland has been completed by HS2 Ltd, the company responsible for developing the project, and is now with ministers, who are considering the next steps.
But a report in today's Independent on Sunday newspaper has raised concerns that the fast train service might not reach Scotland.
The report claims that HS2 Ltd has moved away from the idea of extending high-speed, and is instead looking at enhancements to existing lines.
SNP Westminster transport spokesman Drew Hendry MP said: "It would be outrageous if the UK Government planned to snub Scotland on HS2 and these claims would confirm fears that the feasibility study, which was sent to ministers months ago, had been held back until after the election.
"Including Scotland in HS2 would be transformative and not only deliver greater economic and business returns but also maximise environmental benefits.
"The Westminster establishment have shown a total lack of ambition throughout the development of plans for HS2 and seems committed to keeping Scotland in the slow lane."
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Scotland will benefit from high speed services from the moment HS2 opens.
"We look forward to continued close co-operation with the Scottish Government to maximise the benefits that Scotland gets from a High Speed Britain.
"Advice prepared by HS2 Ltd to identify broad options for high speed and upgraded railways to Scotland has been completed on time and is now with ministers, who are considering next steps. This advice will be published in due course."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article