The 10 MPs presented their East Anglian Rail Prospectus to Transport Secretary, Justine Greening and pressed the case for long term investment to improve the region’s rail network.
They told Ms Greening that the region’s rail services had suffered from years of underfunding, and representatives from each county outlined specific problems in their areas.
Julian told her about the need for better connections to the North, South, East and West. He highlighted congestion and the accident record along the A14 and said rail freight expansion was of paramount importance to take heavy lorries off the road.
He called for more express trains and longer carriages to give greater accessibility to Stansted and London and improved links between Norwich, Cambridge and Ipswich to promote high tech growth.
The lack of connecting trains between Oxford and Cambridge was also raised along with the need for improvements to Wisbech, Peterborough, and King's Lynn.
Julian said: “This meeting was very constructive and the Minister took all our concerns on board and asked detailed questions so that she could further understand the problems we are facing.
“Our rail prospectus offers a huge opportunity to directly address the problems on our rail network which have dogged our region for years.
“We have massive growth taking place, a huge increase in population and businesses looking to move in and invest but our transport links are not up to the job. If the government is serious about giving our region the opportunity to prosper and grow it must act on this prospectus and put investment where it is needed.”
Image: Julian joins 10 of the region’s MPs to push for rail investment in the eastern region.
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Huppert pushes government to act on rail prospectus
6 July 2012
MP Julian Huppert joined Parliamentarians from across the eastern region this week to take their rail improvement plans directly to the government.