High-speed Rail

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 24th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I very much believe and hope that HS2 will be beneficial to Coventry. The entire west midlands benefits from HS2 and Coventry is certainly part of that wider west midlands conurbation. I want to see greater interconnection between the cities, and we have the time to plan and get that right. In this control period and the next one for Network Rail, we will be able to build on certain proposals that I know Coventry wants. Representatives of Coventry have been to see me and made recommendations about certain line improvements that they want to see.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

KPMG predicts benefits of more than £200 million for Worcestershire’s economy from HS2, so I broadly welcome the statement, but can the Secretary of State reassure my constituents that nothing in it precludes investment in faster trains between London and Worcester to address the absurdity that a journey of 130 miles, which took under two hours in 1910, takes more than two and a half hours today?

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend is right. One of the problems that HS2 addresses in a way that no other proposals put before us will address is capacity. I very much hope that it will free up other journeys so that we can have faster journey times from cities such as Worcester.