Quicker links is joined-up thinking

Published on Tuesday 5 December 2006 01:28

HOW often do we inadvertently eavesdrop mobile phone conversations on the train that start: "I'm running late ... pass on my apologies ... I'll be there as soon as I can"?

While rail services between our major cities have seen better frequency and reliability, further improvement is limited by infrastructure constraints.

Delays to our journeys are more than an annoying inconvenience. Slow public transport links between our major cities could be a significant barrier to real economic growth. And looking at experience from around Europe, improving high-speed links between cities could play a big part in lifting our competitiveness.

Could transport infrastructure really achieve the step-change in growth we would all like to see in Scotland?

In its simplest terms, cutting journey times will save money and increase productivity. If you were to take the recent Eddington Report and apply it (albeit crudely) to Scotland, just a 5 per cent time saving in all journey times could be worth 250 million to the Scottish economy in extra output from workers spending less time on the road or rail and more time at their desk or worktop.

Less obvious, but potentially more important, are the knock-on benefits of improving the links between Scotland's city regions.

Improved connectivity is one of the main ways in which to build up "scale" by bringing businesses, suppliers and labour markets closer together.

For example joining up Glasgow and Edinburgh, and improving links to Dundee, could create a pool of more than 3.2 million people. This would place it within the top 12 European metropolitan regions by population size. Imagine the asset for Scotland if we could extend to Aberdeen and truly join up our hubs of wealth creation.

Higher speeds to shrink the distances between our major population centres should be seen as the next stage in the development of our rail network.

They could have a fundamental impact on the way our whole economy operates.

They could promote efficiency gains, by lowering the financial and time costs of business travel. For despite the growth of information technology, face-to-face contact remains an essential element of successful business transactions.

They could help drive innovation by making it easier for workers, businesses and education establishments to connect with each other.

And they could encourage growth in the numbers commuting between our major cities making it easier to match what employers are looking for with the skilled workers they need.

This will all ultimately contribute to the productivity gains we so badly need if we are to move up the wealth ladder internationally.

Having the ability to combine assets and collaborate across boundaries to improve the performance of our economy is a must. Faster links can help make this a reality.

The competitors we are looking to match internationally are already doing this - and we need to catch up.

In terms of size and scale, only Glasgow and Edinburgh are comparable to the English core cities. If we are to offer a market of a similar range and depth to Greater Manchester or Birmingham - never mind London - we need to work more closely together both as cities and as metro regions.

Cities throughout the world have already begun to collaborate to build capacity and increase their influence. Faster links are fundamental to this.

A growing number of European city regions are creating development strategies based on the competitive benefits that being closer to each other bring.

The Denmark to Sweden crossing across the Oresund bridge now takes ten minutes by car. Previously this took an hour by ferry. The result of this shortening of journey time is the creation of a single region spread across two countries. In 2004, for the first time, the region attracted more investment projects than any other city- region in Scandinavia and it has become a European hub for investment in IT, telecoms and electronics and life sciences. Both countries recognise that geographic boundaries and separate institutions should not be a barrier to economic growth, a lesson we could learn a lot from here.

Most tellingly of all, perhaps, is the service between Madrid and Andalucia, a journey that previously took six hours and now takes two hours 20 minutes. Since the journey time decreased the region has seen significant economic growth.

Any major infrastructure improvements need to stand up to a rigorous cost-benefit rationale.

Improving Scotland's productivity is a principal objective of Scottish Enterprise as Scotland's main economic development agency. We will only achieve success by working with others across the public and private sectors. I would argue the same holds true for those involved in delivering Scotland's transport infrastructure and services. True sustainable growth requires alignment with the economic growth agenda right across the public sector and many parts of the private sector too.

That is where some the competitors I have mentioned really have managed to get it right.

If our end-game is to close the gross value added gap with Europe's best performers, then high speed and high levels of connectivity between our major cities are essential.

Ultimately what I want to hear when eavesdropping on the train of the future is: "Can you bring forward that appointment? I can be there early."

Then I'll know we really are going places.

• Jack Perry is chief executive of Scottish Enterprise