A MUCH more stringent approach to reducing the national funding deficit was revealed in the Autumn Statement published by the Government on November 17, but significant investment in rail has been retained.
There was confirmation that HS2 will be built to Manchester, removing speculation it might terminate at Crewe or even Birmingham. As yet, however, there is no clarity as to whether the truncated Eastern Leg to East Midlands Parkway remains a part of the project.
A commitment has also been made to continue with East West Rail, where doubts had been expressed about the upgrade of the Bletchley to Bedford section and the new alignment from Bedford to Cambridge, which makes little use of the past formation that has been built over at many locations. Five options were identified to
