If the new plans for "integrated rail" do as promised on the east coast line, that could cut journey times by 20 minutes between Newcastle and London. But the plans give no indication of improvements north of the Tyne.
Rail campaigners say there could be improvements to speed up these long-distance services on tracks north of the border. Most of these would use existing line, in some cases and places adding parallel tracks so that slower trains don't get in the way of the fast ones.
That could cut Glasgow to London journeys to only three hours, but that depends how often they stop.
If the priority is to link Scotland with London in order to reduce demand for air travel, then the priority should be very few stops and the minimum possible journey time.
'Union connectivity'
A rough reckoning by the rail industry is that a cut in journey time from 4 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 40 should knock out about half of the demand for London air links with Scotland's central belt. Taking it down to three hours could replace air travel.
But there are other priorities in the north of England. "Levelling up" means services that stop and don't hurtle past English towns in order to suit Scottish travellers.
It was recently reported that a Scottish government official had admitted to a transport conference that plans for improving rail connectivity with England have been shunted into a siding for the past couple of years. That appears to reflect a lack of co-operation between Whitehall and St Andrew's House.
Even if it has stopped its own work in high speed rail, the Scottish government remains keen on the UK government pushing on.
Said a spokesperson at Transport Scotland: "We have consistently supported HS2 from the outset and called for it to extend further north to Scotland, recognising the benefits this will bring from the improvements in the connectivity, capacity and resilience of the rail network, in addition to a welcome reduction in journey times.
"It is therefore disappointing that the ambition for HS2 has been scaled back rather than expand by bringing it north of Border."
A strategic transport projects review is expected this winter, with a 20-year time horizon.
Boris Johnson's government wants to be seen to be improving cross-border links of all sorts, and on its own terms for political reasons.
A "union connectivity review" has been long-awaited. Its first draft pointed to improvements to the road links to Northern Ireland through Scotland. It could also take on the hopes of a railway that links the new Edinburgh-Border railway with Carlisle.
Stand by for a tannoy announcement that the review will be arriving at a UK government platform in the next few weeks.
Source
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59339381
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