Sir Peter Hendy has recommended further funding to be committed to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to work on improving “strategic transport links”.
The chairman of Network Rail was answering questions from MPs about the Union Connectivity review at a session of the Scottish Affairs Committee.
He concluded that the majority of the improvement work had to be made in England in order to “better connect Scotland” to the other four nations in the UK, adding that this could “substantially decrease journey times”.
Hendy explained that his understanding was that the UK Government is looking into how investment can be made.
“There must be some degree of extra funding made available, otherwise it would be a redistribution of other money”, Hendy said, using the A75 as an example of Westminster putting extra money forward to improve strategic transport links.
He said: “Improvements in one country can make improvements in another - I think some of those connections have been neglected because of the devolution of transport.”
Hendy continued that devolution “in general” had been good for transportation, although in some cases cross-border links were “not being pursued relentlessly within the nation”.
Hendy praised the Scottish Government’s rail improvement programme and said the UK Government was learning from that approach.
He was “comforted” to see the publication of the Scottish Transport Programme Two “closely correlated” with his Union Connectivity Review.
While trying to avoid give overtly political answers, Hendy eventually responded to claims made by the Scottish Government that it was “intentionally and specifically excluded” from the review and that they were required to “rubber stamp” its findings.
Hendy refuted the suggestion made by Finance Secretary Kate Forbes last year at a Scottish Affairs Committee meeting, noting that he had two meetings with Michael Matheson - in November 2020 and March last year.
He said the Scottish Government was “unique” among the devolved administrations in telling its officers “not to engage” with the connectivity review.
The proposals for Scotland include upgrading the West Coast Main Line, increasing capacity and cutting journey times between Scotland and London, the Midlands and North West England.
Hendy estimated that by improving the West Coast Main Line, on top of HS2, travel from Scotland to London will be cut to “three hours and a bit”.
However, he noted that the economic case for a complete high speed railway between Crewe and the Central Belt of Scotland, “is pretty unlikely”, instead calling for an approach that saw a “filleting out” of the best proposals for journey times.
During the meeting, Hendy also defended the review of the fixed link between Scotland and Northern Ireland, which committee chair Pete Wishart named “ridiculous”.
He said it was “reasonable” to investigate the possibility of a bridge or tunnel, before comparing the project to the Channel Tunnel, which was also “derided” before its completion.
The feasibility study into the fixed link cost the taxpayer £900,000 and Hendy said in the report that it would cost in the region of £355bn to build.
However, he argued that it “ought to be reviewed at some stage” during the “advent of future technology”.
He said: “It's possible to do it, it is not in excess of modern technology, it’s probably near the edge of modern technology", adding that the case may change with the advent of autonomous vehicles and it ought to be reviewed at some stage.
“So I think it was a reasonable question to ask and my conclusion is factual, which is that it is possible to do it but the sums of money involved and the time it would take are not credible at the moment.”
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
