UK: Birmingham Airport stands to benefit greatly from the planned High Speed 2 rail line, connecting London to Birmingham and beyond, however, UK Transport Secretary Justine Greening has announced last week that the government will delay any decision as to whether to go ahead with HS2 until next year. Greening issued a written statement saying that "in order to ensure that my decision is based on a careful consideration of all relevant factors, I have concluded that I should allow myself until early in 2012 to announce my decisions." "I am therefore notifying the House that I will not be making a further statement on the subject of high speed rail this year, but I expect to announce my decisions in January." airrail TV speaks with John Morris, Head of Government and Industry Affairs at Birmingham Airport about the importance of high speed rail to the airport and future of UK's aviation business. "High speed rail is very important for airports -- it changes the geography of UK. It doesn't matter where the airport is, what matters to the customer is how quickly he can get to the final destination," John said to airrail TV. The 100-mile rail link, which would be built between 2016 and 2026, aims to cut the London-to-Birmingham city journey time from 1 hour 22 minutes to 49 minutes.

• published: 12 Dec 2011
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