Fares are rising, and Britain is gridlocked, putting travel on the political agenda as

never before.Here the Transport Secretary and his Labour shadow battle it out, before Prospect’s Jay Elwes explains why he thinks they are violently agreeing—and why they are both wrong

Time to unclog Britain

Chris Grayling

Chris Grayling is Secretary of State for Transport

© VLADIMIR VIHREV, STOCKER TOP/REX SHUTTERSTOCK

The case for investing in infrastructure is just as strong today as it was in the days of Brunel, Stephenson or Telford. It doesn’t matter whether you’re manufacturing cloth or smartphones, designing software or running a firm of solicitors: you still need access to suppliers, a skilled workforce, and a ready marketplace. Effective transport is what allows workers choose from a wider range of employers, and take a better job in the next town. If we are to build the new homes we need, they too must be served by transport.

In November we announced that we would explore opportunities to restore infrastructure lost under the Beeching and British Rail cuts of the 1960s and 70s. Why? Because, if anything, the case for new infrastructure is greater now than it has been for perhaps a century. Thanks to economic growth, there are more vehicles on our roads, and more passengers on our railways, than ever before. That’s a result of our record levels of employment, and of more firms bringing more products to market. It’s good news for us all, but it’s creating unprecedented demand on our transport networks. Rail passenger numbers have more than doubled since privatisation, yet without the investment we are making, we would be left dependent on a Victorian network designed for a population a quarter the size of our own. Massive investment in our roads—the largestin a generation, incorporating widening schemes, new bypasses, bridges and tunnels— is equally important.

Getting infrastructure from decision to delivery takes time. The Crossrail project, started in 2010, will open next year. We have already built new stations and rebuilt many of our biggest and most important existing ones, including Reading, Birmingham New Street and large parts of Manchester Victoria. This month we opened the Ordsall Chord, a short but challengingnew line connecting Manchester’s three main stations for the first time. We’re delivering so many extra train carriages that the rail industry has built a new train factory, in Newton Aycliffe, and the historic Derby works, producing trains since 1840, has invested in new capacity. These and other sites are constructing 17 new carriages every week; by 2021 there will be more than 5,500 new carriages on the network.