Bullet-train link for cities could be achieved relatively cheaply

EDINBURGH and Glasgow can only work synergically when getting to and from them is as easy as hailing a cab, but the line by Falkirk is already congested, with additional trains from Glasgow to Stirling and Edinburgh to Bathgate imposed on its elderly trackbed, and increasing traffic from intermediate stops. Still, a "bullet train" can be done comparatively cheaply, and take advantage of the current state of railway politics.

Besides the Falkirk route (1), there are two other rail links between the cities, and there will shortly be four: (2) via Carstairs, (3) via Shotts, and prospectively (4) via Bathgate.

The key to a high-speed link lies in (2). At the moment, GNER trains from Glasgow Central to London run every two hours to Waverley. They take 58 minutes, travelling via Motherwell and Carstairs, 50 miles at 50 mph. They are comfortable and roughly 80 per cent empty, as most passengers board at Waverley for stations to London. Here is expensive train capacity going to waste.

This is still faster than (3), the line via Shotts, which takes one hour 30 minutes. But if a dedicated, realigned track were to be built between Midcalder and Uddingston Junction (25 miles), and if the train was capable of 140 mph on this stretch, then even with an average 80 mph for the 8.5 miles between Glasgow and Uddingston, and the 10.5 miles from Midcalder to Edinburgh, a 30-minute trip would be practicable. GNER’s Eurostar, which can’t get north of York, can do 186 mph, so the time could come down further yet.

The 17-mile Midcalder-Carstairs stretch could then be closed and replaced by a high-speed curve from Carfin to Wishaw, with a parkway station at Ravenscraig serving the Motherwell-Wishaw conurbation. Trains from Edinburgh to Carlisle, travelling via the new link, would be much faster, and save on maintenance.

The cost? With electrification, probably about twice that of the Waverley line to Tweedbank, per mile, or about 400 million - perhaps 600 million if there were dedicated tracks into Glasgow Central. At any rate, far less than the five-mile M74 extension. And no need to invest in additional rolling-stock.

The necessary improvements aren’t rocket science but co-ordinated signalling, separation from existing lines, and three dedicated high-speed flyover rail junctions at Carfin, Uddingston and Wishaw.

Our problem is a rail system plunged in a snakepit of controllers and regulators, bankers, lawyers and policy wonks, and a deficit of engineers. In Germany, remember that Baden-Wrttemberg is building railways because its modern road network is hopelessly congested: a Porsche stuck in a jam is no different from a Reliant Robin. But Baden builds many of Europe’s cars because its workforce slips around the land by public transport - not just high-speed but the S-bahns and supertrams which central Scotland could develop as its secondary rail network.

Where will we get the necessary expertise to build and operate a bullet train? Enter the competition for the East Coast main line franchise, between a Virgin-Stagecoach-Deutsche Bahn consortium and GNER. Deutsche Bahn is the German expert in high-speed trains. Last year, it commissioned a 190-mph Kln-Frankfurt line. Meanwhile, Chris Smith of Virgin (and formerly of InterCity and ScotRail) is one of the few rail managers who inspires trust north and south of the Border. Why not pick this consortium to do the bullet train as well?

It is true that GNER has a respectable record, but its American president, James Sherwood - hotelier to the ultra-rich - wants to close practically every Scottish line down, so may have ruled it out.

If we’ve reached a step-change in policy, then surely it should be away from the farce of competition to a long-term, publicly-controlled monopoly. Given its dependency on state subsidy, Virgin is now nationalised in all but name, anyway. And the first charge on the new operator should be a precisely-timed commitment to the Edinburgh-Glasgow express link.