The boss of international transport giant FirstGroup has called for the UK Government’s high speed rail plans to be extended to Aberdeen.
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray stand to lose up to £225million a year under plans to put high-speed trains on routes between London Euston and the Midlands, north-west England and West Yorkshire.
A report earlier this year by KMPG said cities, towns and regions in the south of England would reap the benefits of being better connected – but that other places, which could shed jobs as firms move to be nearer the lines, would pay a price.
However, Tim O’Toole – who leads Aberdeen-based First around the world – believes that the north-east is so important to the UK economy that Westminster should consider running the line all the way to the Granite City.
He holds the view despite the fact that extending the £50billion HS2 scheme to Aberdeen could cost an extra £10billion.
“This company has been a supporter of HS2 – if you are going to increase capacity, and this country needs to, then you need to build a new, modern railway,” Mr O’Toole told the Press and Journal.
“We want to see HS2 fit into this franchising model (like East Coast rail). It is something we would bid for and it would be a great prize.
“I would hope it could stretch up to Aberdeen.”
He added: “Aberdeen, and what it can produce, figures very big in the (independence) debate going on right now – and it features so prominently because it is so important.
“Once you get up towards Aberdeen there is real capacity issues, because there is so much single track. Dealing with that capacity issue will allow us to add the extra services that people want.”
While it listed the areas that would benefit – such as Greater London by £2.8billion and the West Midlands by £1.5billion – KPMG omitted details of 50 areas that would end up worse off.
While cities, towns and regions in the south of England reap the benefits of being better connected, other places away from the line will pay a price.
Like the north-east, Dundee and Angus could lose as much as 2% of its annual GDP, KPMG found.
Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown said the report reinforced the case for extending HS2 to Scotland.