High speed rail on hold in Scotland

Edinburgh and Glasgow will have to wait for high speed rail after plans to pursue a new fast link between the two cities were quietly shelved. The Scottish government has previously said it would push on with development of a high speed route from Edinburgh to Glasgow regardless of progress with HS2 in England.

Proposals for the project are not included in the Scottish government's 2015 Infrastructure Investement Plan. Questioned over the omission, Scotland's transport minister Derek Mackay said the proposal depends on high speed rail connecting from England. A draft business case submitted to ministers in 2014 said an Edinburgh-Glasgow route was not possible until a cross-border high speed link was confirmed, according to BBC Scotland.

Phase Two of HS2 is currently expected to go as far north as Leeds and Manchester with a spur connecting to the West Coast Main Line to Glasgow via Crewe. A government policy paper set out latest hopes for the HS2 route in November 2015, confirming the intention to accelerate delivery of the HS2 link from the West Midlands to Crewe to open in 2027, six years ahead of the rest of Phase Two. A further announcement on the rest of the Phase Two route is expected in autumn 2016.