Call for £12bn London-Edinburgh rail link

Plans for a new high-speed London to Edinburgh rail link have been unveiled at the Liberal Democrat conference.

Describing current network capacity as "near bursting", the party said the new north-south link would help to deliver a 21st Century transport network.

Costing the plan at £10-12 billion, the Lib Dems indicated that no final decisions had been made on how to pay for the scheme.

Options under consideration include a bond issue, increased taxes on businesses that would benefit,or the use of private finance.

As the scheme would not begin until around 2010, the party said that any "modest expenditure" that would be incurred during the next parliament could be met from existing transport department budgets.

But there was an admission that the project would "require some element of government funding".

The route would run from London to Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and on to Edinburgh.

With the high speed lines running trains at 225kph, journey times could be cut to around three hours offering an alternative to air transport, said the Lib Dems.

There would also be an option to expand the line to other cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.

Transport spokesman John Thurso said high speed rail was "an efficient means of transport in itself".

"But it also delivers extra capacity for local trains and freight and a realistic alternative to short haul domestic travel," he said.

"It is vital that we commit to this project before congestion brings Britain to a standstill."