Comments From Mark Cowlard, Head Of Rail At EC Harris

“Today’s detail from the Government about its spending plans puts transportation infrastructure firmly at the centre of our future growth.  The debate about road and rail being economic enablers are now over and it is accepted fact that we must invest in them to grow our economy which this spending round echoes.

For rail, many of the projects had already been announced, and many are too far off to deliver much needed short term growth, however the ongoing budget commitment to HS2 and first steps into Crossrail 2 are particularly welcome.

The focus now is how the Government delivers this infrastructure and takes it from a series of billion pound headlines into real live projects, generating the needed growth.  In particular, the commitment that projects should be delivered by ‘specialist delivery units with commercial expertise, reflecting private sector best practice’ aligns with our own recent calls to Government and I look forward to seeing more detail about these delivery plans over the coming months.”