High speed rail link on track ‘in ten years’

A HIGH-SPEED rail service connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh will be created within ten years, it has been reported.

The ambitious plans would see trains running at up to 140mph from the Capital, with the trip to Glasgow taking less than 30 minutes.

The development has arisen over anger that Scotland has been snubbed in Westminster plans for high-speed rail, which will see a new line running from London to Birmingham created by 2026 and a second phase to Leeds and Manchester by 2033.

Infrastructure secretary Alex Neil MSP said he wanted to see the Class 395 javelin locomotives running the Scottish route and added: “Our first high-speed rail would still be ten years ahead of the second phase in England.”

It was announced last week that the existing Glasgow-Edinburgh route will be electrified by 2016.