Business leaders back ‘urgent’ need for investment in rail infrastructure

Suffolk Chamber of Commerce with its industry partners have made a clarion call to Transport Minister Therese Villiers MP and to industry across the region to get behind its campaign to bring urgent investment into the rail system serving the East of England believing the next twelve months are fundamental if business is to have the rail infrastructure it needs to come out of recession.

“There is no doubt that the failing rail infrastructure thousands of businesses experience every day is having a detrimental impact on our economy,” said the Chief Executive of Suffolk Chamber John Dugmore who with other business leaders met with the Transport Minister in Ipswich recently.  “With others, we have campaigned for a number of years to see new investment, but in the next twelve months the need is greater than ever.”

The East of England is a key component of the UK's economic growth and is one of only three regions along with the South East and London that is a net contributor to the British economy.  The campaign has pointed out that despite this economic success, the region has not seen the public investment to match.

“It was only last year that a major piece of research told us that in the East, a strategic upgrade of the Great Eastern Main Line could generate £3.7 billion in benefit to the economy,” John Dugmore continued.  “Therefore we were frustrated that governments past and present have continued to show a preference for the West Coast mainline which receives much higher levels of investment.”

The business campaign shows that investment in the Great Eastern Main Line would cost less than that for High Speed Rail 2 and would not have the political opposition seen along that particular route.

The campaign is being backed by the Haven Gateway Partnership, the economic development body which promotes the economic opportunities and security of the future prosperity of that gateway to the East of England, Members of Parliament and Archant.

“All the evidence indicates that capacity improvements to the Great East Main Line provide probably the best economic return on investment of any transport scheme in the East of England,” said the Haven Gateway Partnership Chief Executive David Ralph.

 “Together with the social and environmental benefits, we have a compelling case to develop an ambitious, but deliverable plan for the benefit of businesses and residents of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex,” he added.

The campaign is talking about a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to address the problems over the next twelve months because of:

• The successful bid by Abellio for the Great Anglia Rail franchise is to be followed by a longer term franchise in 2014, which itself should bring a boost to investment in the region's railways.
• The Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) is reviewing the rail industries' plans set out earlier this year with a view to advising the Department for Transport who will publish a report in 2012 determining the rail infrastructure projects needed across the UK.

“There has to be a step change in investment,” John Dugmore from the Suffolk Chamber said.

“If business is to come out of the recession and grow during this fragile time for the economy, then we need more reliability, less disruption and ‘bustitution’, modern and business friendly rolling stock, additional carriages and capacity with better and bigger stations.”

“Businesses in the East are working hard to keep their heads above the water,” he added.  “The success of our members is hindered by a sub-standard rail service.  The time has now come to make real and lasting investment.”

The campaign is seeking the support of business and partners across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.