Transport thinking from the Conservatives has often placed great importance on road travel, but a new emphasis towards rail seems to be emerging.
Long viewed as more friendly to the car than the other mainstream political parties, the Tories have urged rail capacity be increased as well as introducing new stations and longer platforms ” all benefiting from the extra cash that they say will be generated by franchise auctions.
A spokeswoman from Conservative head office told ABTN that as the government were the ones as ”holders of the kitty, they need to look at this [rail] issue - we are happy to have consensus politics on this.”
And before travelling to Leeds to meet transport industry representatives and discuss the Tories” green initiatives for the sector, shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said: ”First and most important, we must put rail at the heart of Britain”s transport system [and] if we are to meet our international obligations on climate change, it is clear we need a major increase in rail use.”
The fact that the Conservatives are trumpeting their rail credentials, comes at a time when all parties are engaged in a frenzy of green policy generation, that has seen transport soar to the top of the political agenda.
Indeed, Tory leader David Cameron has weighed into the debate noting: ”We know there is room for expansion of rail capacity in the current transport budget and the government is due to receive significant extra funds after the recent franchise auctions ” mostly paid for by passenger fares.
”We think it is an urgent priority for that money to be spent on tackling overcrowding. If the government finally takes decisions about key projects like Thameslink and Birmingham New Street, it will have our full support.”
For its part the Labour government might point out recent announcements concerning significant extra funding for the railways, as well as the introduction of major additions to rolling stock ” although not before 2014. Furthermore, London termini such as Euston and Waterloo are due for major upgrades, while the high-speed link from St Pancras is due to start in November.
And recent newspaper reports have speculated that a form of de facto rail nationalisation could occur north of the border as a prelude to a wider experiment UK-wide, although Network Rail remains coy on the issue.
”Naturally we would listen to any major political party on any proposal they may have regarding the railways,” said the operator, ”but our strategy and focus, is on continuing to improve the day-to-day performance of the railway for its customers, and not on any further structural changes.”