Sorry for the lack of proper coverage but please read all about it in this pdf. The Commission was launched earlier today by William Hague and Theresa Villiers. We'll request a Platform piece from one of its members...
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Interesting that Christine Emmett is on this commission. Remember her from several candidate selection finals - obviously a star performer and good enough to represent the party on this commission. Surely a decent seat can't be far off?
Posted by: anon | January 30, 2009 at 13:43
Will high speed rail be going to Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow. If not why not, and why is the North and Scotland once again "ditched" in opportunities by this arse of a government which I hear only has plans to extend it to Manchester?
Posted by: rugfish | January 30, 2009 at 14:25
Extending M1 beyond Tyneside and on to Edinburgh should be Job One.
The "M69" from Penrith to Gateshead should be implemented ASAP too.
Posted by: Tanuki | January 30, 2009 at 16:27
Will this include transport for all the displaced engineering and construction workers to visit the job centre.
Or,
To transport all the lower paid and less safety conscious Italian engineering and construction workers.
No "bussing" in the UK we "barge"
Posted by: Patrick Harris | January 30, 2009 at 16:39
Please do something about the roads arround Preston, any crash on the M6 arround the city just brings it to a dead halt and all the main roads become grid locked. The worse ever was a couple of years a go when a Tanker of Acid turned over, 12 hours of chaos
Posted by: Graham | January 30, 2009 at 18:16
I hope that any improvements in transport will be primary aimed at new train lines not more roads.
All that does is cause more pollution and scares the countryside.
Posted by: Jack Stone | January 30, 2009 at 18:47
COMMENT OVERWRITTEN.
Posted by: Another anon | January 30, 2009 at 19:03
COMMENT OVERWRITTEN.
Posted by: Not the same anon | January 30, 2009 at 20:52
1) Dual the A1(M) all the way to Edinburgh.
2) Get a grip on rail prices so that it isn't cheaper to take a car instead
3) Get long distance freight off the roads and onto the railway network (using wagons for railhead distribution)
4) Allow traffic to flow more freely and quicker (i.e. sensible motorway speed limits based on modern cars)
But William
"But we have already committed to major investment in transport in the North with our plans for a high-speed railway line between London, Manchester and Leeds."
If Leeds is in the North, it is about as far south as you can go in the North. There are bits of england further north, like, er, Richmond...
Posted by: Tynemouth Tory | January 30, 2009 at 21:08
Agree with those that say rail fares need to be sorted, and stop pricing people off trains. 'Turn up and go' fares should be as cheap as possible in order to compete with the car. (Many people cannot book in advance for the cheaper advance fares, e.g. if they suddenly have to make an unexpected journey).
As for high speed rail, it must go to Scotland in order to have sufficient impact on reducing the need for domestic flights, many of which are to Scotland. I wonder if a better route would be go through Birmingham, yes, but then after Manchester go north to Glasgow/Edinburgh instead of turning towards Leeds because 1) going to Scotland via Leeds would be a circuitous route leading to longer journey times particularly to Glasgow, and 2) Leeds would be hardly any quicker than what the current East Coast Main Line could achieve (with proper timetabling).
As for the East Coast line, a high-speed section could be built from south of Grantham to the York area to relieve that congested section, freeing it up for semi-fast passegnger services and more feight trains.
Posted by: Philip | January 30, 2009 at 22:31
We need a balanced transport strategy with a little expansion in roads, railways and airports.
Labour and their stooges have tried to forget the first and third because they oppose people's freedom to travel as and when they wish. "Is your journey really necessary?".
Posted by: Super Blue | February 01, 2009 at 11:07
We need to get our act together and build up our Rail network. Car's may well prove to be a short lived aberration. So I am in favour of Rail and Bus’s getting the lion’s share of any new investment
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | February 01, 2009 at 13:51
High speed rail is certainly the way forward and we can learn a great deal from the French with their superb network of TGV's - but really something has to be done about the appalling minefield that is buying a train ticket! It is so complicated and the price structure so convoluted that it must put a great many people off rail travel.
Posted by: Sally Roberts | February 01, 2009 at 14:00