UK Ultraspeed welcomes the endorsement of maglev in the report published today by the Conservative Party’s Economic Competitiveness Policy Group.  It states:

 

“This should surely be preferred to spending further large sums of money on attempts to create a limited number of express facilities on our already congested and overburdened track at the expense of other rail services.” (p32).

 

Responding to the report, UK Ultraspeed CEO, Alan James said: “we welcome the Conservatives’ analysis that maglev is fast enough to replace heavily-polluting air travel and also solves Britain’s capacity crisis much more effectively than inefficient, piecemeal, upgrades to the rail network.

 

“That’s a view shared right across the political spectrum: billions spent on the botched upgrade of the West Coast Main Line have failed to deliver the promised 140mph trains.  In fact, all that’s been achieved is an increase in maximum speed from 110 to 125mph, whilst our international competitors have forged ahead with 186mph high speed railways.

 

“It’s time to stop messing around.  Let’s capitalise on the fact that Britain doesn’t have any sunk investment in TGV-style railways.  500km/h (311mph) maglev will leapfrog all of Britain’s major competitors and transform the economy of Britain by slashing journey times, whilst producing up to eight times less emissions than domestic flights.

 

“We welcome the Conservative Policy Group adding its voice to the many others calling for Britain to get on with it.  We look forward to working with both Government and Opposition to make maglev happen.”