High-speed Rail

Debate between Gary Streeter and Lord McLoughlin

Monday 24th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am in touch with Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester city council about the issues. Manchester has made some imaginative proposals on how the station should be built alongside Piccadilly station, and they are being looked at. There are good communications between the northern leaders and the Government on this issue.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend knows that the people of the far south-west do not speak much about high-speed rail: our focus is simply on rail and getting reconnected to London after the storms of the winter. Can he assure us that, at the same time as spending all this money on the north and midlands, he will have sufficient to invest in an alternative or additional route between Plymouth and Exeter as soon as it has been identified by Network Rail?

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend has long been an advocate of better rail services in the south-west. Following the storms, I said that I had asked Network Rail to do some detailed work on possible alternatives for the south-west, and that is happening. Network Rail is doing a huge amount of work to ensure the swift reopening of the Dawlish line, which is on course to happen on 4 April.