Boris slams Midlands to London rail link project

Boris Johnson has branded plans for the HS2 high-speed rail link between London and the Midlands "perverse" and "inadequate" and said he cannot support them in their current form.

The London Mayor is calling for the whole stretch of the proposed line which falls within London to be routed through tunnels, which would add massively to the 30 billion estimated cost of the new link to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

And he said the project would double the number of passengers arriving at Euston station each morning, and he would not back it without a government commitment to increase London Underground capacity to carry them on to their destination.

The mayor also raised concerns that a planned HS2 station at Old Oak Common in north-west London will not be adequately connected up with the city's existing transport infrastructure.

Mr Johnson made the comments in a letter to anti-HS2 campaigner Jerry Marshall.

He wrote: "While I have expressed support for a high speed rail network in the past (and continue to support it in principle) my support is conditional on a number of specific criteria and on the need to make the new railway work well for London.

"The proposal now being consulted on does not reflect these conditions and is inadequate for a number of reasons."

Proposals to send the track along an elevated section at Hillingdon and at ground level through Ealing raised "significant environmental concerns."