Another all talk no walk document- yawn. Sorry to be cynical.
Worse than the Integrated Rail Plan, in that it makes no specific recommendations beyond further study of the options for connectivity improvements.
None of it is funded, and the funding is/will be contested by the devolved administrations.
Improvements to the HS2 connections at Crewe (to North Wales) and Golborne (to Scotland) are extremely vague and don't address the likely business cases.
It's a list of areas for further study, not a plan in any meaningful sense.
Peter Hendy evidently got a warmer reception in Dublin than in Edinburgh and Cardiff.
Though I think the Welsh position is manageable, as there is much common interest in the solutions.
Would be fascinating if these reviews and plans had to be open about the cost to produce these. Easily several million pounds of tax payers money to produce this document!
The Report includes two pages of Acknowledgements (which does not include the Scottish Government or Transport for the North for instance)- that's a lot of time spent by many, most of which will be paid.I hope so. You wouldn’t want it done by someone who gets paid nothing.
Nine and a bit pages of References- 181 in number- that's a lot of Researchers' time, most of which will be paid too.
22 pages of titles or full-page photos of trains, planes, ships, electric automobiles, bridges and viaducts.
All for so much hot air.
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