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Leeds: '40 years' before city gets high speed rail
Leeds will be included in plans for a high speed rail network – but it could be decades before the 200mph trains arrive.
* Click here to read YEP political editor Mark Hookham's Westminster blog.
Westminster sources have told the YEP that ministers have approved plans for a super-fast railway, which will run from London to
Birmingham before splitting into a Y-shaped network with twin routes
running north.
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Under the plans, one section would head to Leeds via the East Midlands and the other to Manchester and the North West.
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However, the YEP understands that the blueprint, which will be unveiled by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis on Thursday, will not state which arm of the Y would be built first.
This is bound to raise fears that Manchester will get the green light ahead of Leeds, leaving the West Yorkshire economy to languish for years before its own link is built.
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And with the public finances under massive strain, one MP today predicted that it could be another 40 years before Leeds finally gets its own dedicated high speed link with the capital.
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The YEP understands that Lord Adonis will announce plans for a so-called hybrid bill, which will be a huge piece of legislation detailing the route for the high speed network.
This will mean that the plans will be voted on by MPs in Parliament, instead of being decided by the controversial Infrastructure Planning Commission, which the Tories are committed to abolishing.
It is believed that work could start on the London to Birmingham section of track by 2017, with the line to the West Midlands up and running in the early 2020s. The entire Y network is unlikely to be completed before 2030.
A source said: "Lord Adonis is being very strategic about it. Yorkshire will be included in the plans."
Lord Adonis has repeatedly stressed that the length of time needed to build the network means that forging a cross-party consensus on the issue is crucial.
Leeds North West Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland today said: "I am delighted that high speed rail direct to Leeds is now formally on the agenda. I remain concerned that actually this could lead to the line to Manchester being built first. "
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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