Driving economic growth: Our railways future
Februaryâs Downtown in Business London meeting and dinner took place at Deloitteâs offices and the guests present â including David Orchard and Christopher Orchard of WGP Global â were treated to some real insight on HS2 and the railways more generally, which, as the organisers noted, wouldâve been difficult to ascertain elsewhere.
It was interesting to hear that the government is strongly committed to infrastructure development, hence the HS2 announcement.
Reversing aspects of the Beeching cuts were said to be realistic, but only if they drove development, housing, and economic growth, and where the primary purpose of expanding the rail network.
Electrification could have gone more smoothly, ticketing and customer care needed radical improvement, and it was revealed that there wasnât any further capacity for more carriages on the railways.
Criticising railway services per se by members of the public was said to be of little help, particularly given how much the trains are used at present- hence the need for HS2 and further investment.
It sounds like it could be an exciting time to be in rail, with more investment, bigger projects and a government committed to making it all happen.
