{"id":73850,"date":"2016-09-06T11:34:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T11:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=88bbdda2a8a838ea8809f8e6d1515855"},"modified":"2016-09-06T11:34:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T11:34:00","slug":"speech-even-before-the-first-train-runs-hs2-can-benefit-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=73850","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Even before the first train runs, HS2 can benefit Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Thank you for coming today.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m really pleased to be in Aberdeen for the culmination of a nationwide process with a single purpose: to meet the companies who\u2019ll build HS2.<\/p>\n

We began in Liverpool in May, and since then we\u2019ve visited Wales, the south, the midlands, the north of England, and many places in between.<\/p>\n

Yet we\u2019re finishing here.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why we wanted this process to culminate in Aberdeen.<\/p>\n

And in a moment I will say what it is.<\/p>\n

But first I\u2019d like to talk about HS2 itself, and its significance to Scotland.<\/p>\n

Because the sense I\u2019ve sometimes got is that around here HS2 is seen as a distant project \u2013 something that might speed up journey times between cities in the south, but that won\u2019t have much of an effect in, say, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019d like to say why that isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

The case for HS2: 3 observations<\/h2>\n

The case for building HS2 begins with 3 simple observations.<\/p>\n

The first observation is one of geography and economics.<\/p>\n

Recent decades in the UK<\/abbr> have seen population, jobs and economic activity concentrate disproportionately in the far south-east of our country.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been bad for elsewhere in the UK<\/abbr>, including parts of the north of England, where my constituency is.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also unsustainable for the south-east.<\/p>\n

The second observation is about the state of our existing railways.<\/p>\n

Our railways have always been one of the UK<\/abbr>\u2019s best inventions for spreading wealth, jobs and economic growth around the country.<\/p>\n

Yet in recent years they\u2019ve become increasingly congested.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not surprising.<\/p>\n

When the East Coast Mainline from London to Edinburgh was completed in 1852, the UK<\/abbr> had a population of 15 million people.<\/p>\n

Today it has a population of 65 million.<\/p>\n

Our railways simply weren\u2019t built for the numbers of people who now want to use them.<\/p>\n

In the last 20 years alone, the number of people travelling between London and Glasgow has more than doubled.<\/p>\n

And the demand is set to increase still further.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about crowding in the carriages.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also about crowding on the tracks themselves.<\/p>\n

Services on the West Coast Main Line between England and Scotland, for example, suffer from the need to carry both slow and fast trains on a two-track railway.<\/p>\n

The fast trains catch up with the slow trains and can\u2019t get past.<\/p>\n

And that leads to my third and final observation.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re to address the disproportionate concentration economic activity and jobs in the south, something\u2019s got to change.<\/p>\n

Yes, road and air travel can pick up some of that increasing demand for rail travel.<\/p>\n

But not all of it.<\/p>\n

We need a plan that will re-shape the economic landscape of our country.<\/p>\n

And HS2 is a vital part of that plan.<\/p>\n

HS2 has received the overwhelming backing of Parliament.<\/p>\n

After construction begins next year, it will grow to become the largest construction project in Europe; eventually employing over 25,000 people.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Andrew<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Scotland will benefit from HS2<\/h2>\n

And from completion of the section from London to Birmingham in 2026, Scotland will benefit.<\/p>\n

Because trains from HS2 will run to Scotland from its first day of opening.<\/p>\n

On day 1, they\u2019ll cut the journey time between London and Glasgow from 4 hours 31 minutes to 3 hours 56 minutes.<\/p>\n

The section between the West Midlands and Crewe, due to open in 2027, will further reduce the journey time to 3 hours 43 minutes.<\/p>\n

When the line\u2019s fully complete in 2033, the journey time from London to Glasgow will be 3 hours 38 minutes and the time to Edinburgh will be 3 hours 39 minutes.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re already working to see how we can get the time down even more \u2013 perhaps to 3 hours.<\/p>\n

Even so, by taking nearly an hour off the time between London and Scotland\u2019s 2 biggest cities we expect to more than double passenger demand for travel on these routes.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s demand we\u2019ll be comfortably able to accommodate.<\/p>\n

The better connectivity these new services will provide will allow businesses to access new opportunities, people to take jobs in other parts of the UK<\/abbr>, and create extra space for freight.<\/p>\n

In total, we expect these benefits to add around \u00a3100 million a year to the Scottish economy.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s a clear case for Scotland to support HS2.<\/p>\n

Yet we\u2019d like the benefits of HS2 to come much sooner than the opening of the first section in 2026.<\/p>\n

Scotland has the skills we need<\/h2>\n

And that\u2019s why we\u2019re here today.<\/p>\n

Because we know that Aberdeen is home to people and businesses with the skills we need.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a city with unrivalled experience in energy infrastructure, so much of which is transferable to a project like HS2.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a city with a talent for taking on the biggest engineering challenges.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s a city that\u2019s home to 2 universities, both with excellent engineering schools, and both with graduate employment records that are among the very, very best in the UK<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

In this room alone we\u2019ve got local experts in:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • engineering design<\/li>\n
  • metal machining<\/li>\n
  • modular buildings<\/li>\n
  • commercial paving<\/li>\n
  • control systems<\/li>\n
  • operational safety<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u2026and much else.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019re going to need all these skills \u2013 and more.<\/p>\n

    Scotland\u2019s 7,500 engineering firms already have a great record of winning contracts on Britain\u2019s biggest projects:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • concrete for Crossrail<\/li>\n
    • car park floors for Heathrow\u2019s new Terminal 2<\/li>\n
    • aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      And now we come to sign the contracts for HS2.<\/p>\n

      They\u2019re some of the largest contracts in UK<\/abbr> construction history, comprising tens of thousands of opportunities; 60% of which we expect to award to small and medium sized firms; the single biggest UK<\/abbr> infrastructure project for generations, and a brilliant opportunity for Scotland.<\/p>\n

      Conclusion<\/h2>\n

      Shortly you\u2019ll hear exactly what we\u2019re looking for and how to get involved.<\/p>\n

      But for now I\u2019d like to say thank you to everyone for coming.<\/p>\n

      Whether you come from Aberdeen, from further afield in Scotland, or from elsewhere in the UK<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

      We need the world\u2019s best infrastructure professionals working on this project.<\/p>\n

      To get it built on time and on budget.<\/p>\n

      And looking at all the expertise gathered here today, I have no doubt that, together, we\u2019ll succeed.<\/p>\n

      Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      HS2 Minister Andrew Jones tells Scotland\u2019s engineers: we want you to help build HS2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}