Preparations for work on the high speed rail line between London and Birmingham are forging ahead as two contracts worth a combined £8 million were awarded to companies.

Four jobs on salaries of more than £97,000 a year each are being created at the taxpayer funded quango behind a planned £32 billion high-speed rail line.

A team of spin doctors to promote the £32 billion high speed rail line is costing taxpayers more than £1 million, it was claimed today.

The West Midlands will not cope with soaring demand for train services without high speed rail, the region’s transport bosses have said.

Detailed plans for the second phase of the controversial HS2 rail project will be made public within weeks, a Staffordshire Conservative MP has revealed.

A £2.6 billion plan to lay a water pipe alongside the controversial HS2 high speed rail line, which will pass through parts of Staffordshire, has been unveiled.

The safety of the Government’s controversial £33 billion HS2 rail scheme is being questioned amid warnings that high speeds proposed could cause catastrophic track failures and derailments.

The Government may face a legal challenge to its £33 billion HS2 high-speed rail project after objectors sent a letter warning they would go to the courts.

Landowners along the route of the controversial £32 billion high-speed rail line will be offered an initial payment of £1,000 for allowing surveyors access to their land, it has been announced.

The owners of a popular Staffordshire wedding venue and farm shop were today fearing the closure of their business after the controversial high-speed rail link was approved.