Airport dismiss Government rail plans
07.08.09
Birmingham Airport has dismissed Government plans for high speed rail to replace domestic flights, and said it would continue to operate short-haul flights in direct competition with the rail network. A spokesman said the aviation industry was likely to compete against the Government’s proposed London to Scotland route designed to kill off short-haul flights. Airport spokesman John Morris also said air travel was better for the environment than trains.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis revealed the high speed railway would be designed to kill of short-haul flights. He said: ‘For reasons of carbon reduction and wider environmental benefits, it is in the public interest that we replace short-haul aviation with high speed rail.'
He revealed that the high speed line from London to the West Midlands would be built by 2020 with the £7bn funding possibly coming from a public-private partnership. High Speed Two, a company set up by the government and led by Sir David Rowlands, is due to publish a report on the route, including a framework to extend the line to Scotland, by the end of the year.
Mr Morris said: ‘There is no doubt that travelling from Birmingham to London is best done by train - that is why we have no flights there from Birmingham. But getting to Glasgow and Edinburgh is better done by air. You just have to look at the lower carbon emissions for the journeys, the quicker journey times, and a noise footprint that is significantly less than the 300-mile one left by trains.’
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