We recognise that the country needs a railway system fit for the twenty-first century. And this means a high speed network linking the capital to the rest of the nation.

But some of us are going to have to live next to the route of this line that is bound to be noisy and subject to night-time maintenance.

We will be monitoring the progress of this ambitious project and keeping accountable the people who determine the route and the technologies that will have some much impact on so many of our lives.