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40 Connecting EnglandThis is illustrated by the fact that schemes as nationally important as A3 Hindhead and A303Stonehenge have been relegated to ‘regional’ status. Of particular importance to theCommission is the need for better north-south rail and trans-Pennine links. The Commissionbelieves that a DFE must resolve priority rail investment schemes of this kindWith both East and West Coast Main Lines and trains often at full capacity, on a rail systemexperiencing faster growth than elsewhere in Europe, it is vital for the prosperity and the cohesionof England to build on what will be the undoubted success of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, whichends, lest we forget, at St Pancras. At the same time, east-west links – notably the trans-Penninelink from York to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool – need substantial investment to connect theNorth’s great cities more effectively and help relieve the heavily congested M62 motorway.Furthermore, better transport links need to be made between the South West of England andthe rest of the country. Commissioners were generally supportive of the initiative presented byMark Jones and Nigel Blackler of Cornwall County Council ‘Connecting Cornwall – Regenerationthrough Better Communication’ (2004). This initiative seeks to address peripherality and thegrowing perception of Cornwall as a difficult place to get to. Among a range of objectives, itlobbies for ‘support for key strategic infrastructure improvements which promote the interests ofCornwall and link with wider regeneration initiatives’.Case Study: A Lancashire and Yorkshire RailwayA potential major infrastructure project to enhance east-west rail links in the North would be to financeNetwork Rail to construct a partially new, partially upgraded, new east-west electrified high-speed trunkline, with two branches in the west, from Preston and Liverpool, via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfieldand Leeds, connecting to two branches in the east, to Hull and York, duplicating and relieving existinglines. This would operate at 200 kilometres/hour (125 mph) on the upgraded branches (which willinvolve four-tracking Liverpool-Manchester and Leeds-Micklefield Junction) and at 350 kilometres/hour(218 mph) on the newly constructed Manchester-Leeds section, which could re-use extensive sectionsof abandoned railway between Huddersfield and Leeds. The line would connect in Central Manchesterto the high-speed north-south line from Sheffield via a re-opened Woodhead Tunnel.