Adonis 'supports calls for better rail service'

Date: 30/4/2010

Transport secretary Lord Adonis has given his support for an improved rail service between London and Norwich, reports claim.

After travelling the route, Lord Adonis said: "I'd like to see journey time reduced."

He added that the prospectus for the new franchise encourages companies bidding for the route to run faster services, adding that journey time is currently slower than it was after the line was electrified.

Reducing journey times along this line would see travel time from London to Ipswich fall to under an hour.

Plans are also being developed for a new high speed rail network in the country, reducing journey times from the capital to major cities in the north.

The first phase of the project would see a line linking Birmingham and the capital, with routes to Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield, Leeds and the Scottish cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow also being developed.