NO LIGHT AT END OF TUNNEL FOR MIDLANDS HIGH SPEED RAIL LINK

12.00.00am GMT Wed 14th Nov 2007

On the day of the launch of the high speed train link from the new St Pancras International in London to Paris and Brussels, a West Midlands MEP has lamented that there is still no sign of direct Eurostar services from the regions.

LibDem Euro MP Liz Lynne said:

"When I first became an MEP in 1999 there were plans for a Eurostar from Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Rugby via the Tunnel to Brussels, which of course never materialised. The trains were built, the service even appeared in the timetable, but it never ran.

"I welcome the new faster link for London but it is such a shame that just a fraction of the government's transport plans ever come to pass, and most of them involve London. Ministers have just announced approval for CrossRail, which will be useful but will cost a staggering £16 billion, mostly from public funds. Services in the regions could be transformed for a fraction of that kind of money.

"The High Speed Line from the Tunnel to St Pancras is a stunning achievement, finished on time and on budget, so it is a great shame that the huge investment and effort has not been matched by progress on connections to the country's second city.

"But with Birmingham now surely within the magic three hours for a direct service to Brussels and close to that for Paris, I really hope Eurostar looks again at a dedicated service from the Midlands as a commercial proposition. They could use the regional Eurostar sets on the existing West Coast Main Line as far as north London.

"Even without the dedicated high speed route that we all want to see, a through Eurostar service to Birmingham could now compete directly with short haul airline services and divert traffic from air to rail, with huge savings in carbon emissions.

"I would certainly use such a service and so would the growing numbers of business people and leisure travellers forced to use short-haul flights instead of surface transport."

ENDS