High-speed rail lines on track to bring in £60bn

BUILDING new London to Scotland high-speed rail lines could be worth more than £60 billion to the UK economy, a report said yesterday.

But the lines – one going up the east coast, the other up the west coast – would probably not be operational before 2026, the report adds.

Building two new lines, which would stretch as far north as Glasgow and Edinburgh, would give the best economic benefit, the study from planning and engineering consultants Atkins concluded.

And they said that, while the cost of the lines would be about £31 billion they would deliver £63 billion worth of economic benefits over the first 60 years. London to Birmingham journey times could come down to just one hour while London to Glasgow could take just three hours.

Atkins said that the lines would be necessary as capacity on existing lines could be exhausted quicker than expected – perhaps as soon as within a decade.

The firm's transport planning managing director Andy Southern said: "It is clear that a high-speed rail network should not only be viewed in terms of its benefit to relieving congestion on the rail network.

"The economic gain could also be extremely significant."