Bristol railway electrification 'only under Labour'
The electrification of the Bristol to London railway line will only happen if Labour hang on to power.
Transport secretary Lord Adonis, speaking to the Bristol Evening Post at the Labour conference in Brighton, said work could begin in two years, following detailed "mile by mile" plans being drawn up.
-
The first electric trains could run on the route by 2017.
But the £1 billion plan, which would electrify the line between London and Cardiff, taking in Bristol Temple Meads and Bristol Parkway, could be scrapped under the Tories, the Cabinet Minister warned.
The opposition has indicated the scheme is too costly.
Lord Adonis said: "We have started now in the planning and I have given the go-ahead for the £1bn of investment.
"It will be two or three years before there is serious work on the ground because there is quite a lot of mile-by-mile planning to be done.
"It will go ahead as long as I'm Secretary of State and this government is in office.
"If the country were to vote for a change of government next year, I can't speak for the Conservatives. They haven't said if they support electrification or not. I can absolutely guarantee that if Labour stays in office, we will complete this electrification programme.
"I also think it is essential for Bristol that we do so. Bristol is one of England's major cities and that line should have been electrified a long time ago. It would be a tragedy for Bristol and the South West if the Conservatives were to cancel this project."
The benefits of making the switch from diesel to electric include shaving 12 minutes off the journey time from Bristol to London, improved reliability and less pollution.
He added: "It will mean a much more reliable train service, a far less polluting train service and some acceleration in train times.
"Electric trains are much simpler to operate than diesel trains, they have far fewer moving parts so the interval between breakdowns is longer."
Earlier this week, Lord Adonis announced a £14 million package to transform cycling facilities at railway stations. He praised Bristol for leading the way by becoming the country's first "cycling city".
He laid problems with buses in the city firmly at the door of the councils in the former Avon area. They, he insisted, had the power to offer greater subsidies to help cut fares and create bus routes to speed up journeys.
33 Comments
View all
by geoff, clifton
Thursday, October 01 2009, 11:56PM
“is this a bribe to keep labour in power here.never work gordie is going along with labour”
by derek, Nürnburg,germany 90478
Thursday, October 01 2009, 9:32PM
“Last thought for today for Terry and others.War IS terrible & tragic.You say the Belgrano was sailing away,So was the Bismark in World war 2,after killing thousands of British sailors.Should we have let her reach France to re-fit and sink more allied ships? I was achild during WW2 in Manchester and remember the bombing.You have to stand up to dictators or you and your country are finished.”
by nick, Bedminster Down
Thursday, October 01 2009, 8:13PM
“Anita Yoran Thomas,
This is the true face of Camerons Tory party. Its not a country I would like to live in.”
by derek, Nürnburg,germany 90478
Thursday, October 01 2009, 4:47PM
“Terry I think you are twisting things a bit.No one is exstatic when people die whether Brits or any other nation they were happy that we had won the war.Got to go,football calls.”
by Terry, Bristol
Thursday, October 01 2009, 4:08PM
“Derek,like you I was also ecstatic when I heard the news that The Belgrano had been sunk,on the direct order of Lady Thatcher,even though it was returning home,and sailing away from the area of conflict,the loss of 397 men,with an average age of 23 years is always good news.”
by Geezer, Out and about
Thursday, October 01 2009, 3:58PM
“Re-nationalise public transport! Vote BNP!”
by Gerry, Bristol
Thursday, October 01 2009, 3:54PM
“londoner -
I agree, partially.
Much of the faffing about is caused by the lack of a joined up infrastructure such as Oyster style cards, coherent, integrated transport links etc. We're just not used to it down here, because we've never had what most Londoners, Mancunians etc take for granted and that's the fault of both central and local government.
I'm sure that your not inferring that people from the West Country are somehow genetically inferior to the rest of the country and find it difficult to access modern transport systems.....because that would be daft, considering that Bristol is one of the wealthiest and most successful cities in the country.”
by derek, Nürnburg,germany 90478
Thursday, October 01 2009, 3:34PM
“Ray BS7.If you would be so kind as to pay my removal expenses,I would love to leave here and come home to my family in the Bristol area but owing to circumstances beyond my control,am unable to.I feel I have a right to comment upon news from my homeland or is this denied to people living abroad?On reflexion, the bit about the Argies was probably over the top but at the time the whole country was in ecstacy that we had won.”
by derek, Nürnburg,germany 90478
Thursday, October 01 2009, 3:20PM
“As a staunch conservative for so long you certainly seem to have some very strange views on people less fortunate than yourself.Perhaps you should ask David Cameron if he shares them? As for nit-picking Samantha,who has never spelt a word wrong in her life,I find her comment pathetic”
by Ray, BS7
Thursday, October 01 2009, 3:18PM
“Derek , I see you have chosen to live in most non-Conservative country in Europe.
Hypocrite.
You also sound like a three year old child talking about "smashing the Argies"”