http://www.dft.gov.uk/press/speechesstatements/speeches/bccannualconference07

"But, at the same time as we are undertaking local congestion pilots, we will be investing significantly in rail to support growth cities.

Across the network, we are today spending £88 million a week to improve the railways.

Major programmes like the West Coast Main Line upgrade, and the Mark 1 replacement, which added 325 new carriages, have made a real difference to services.

As a result of the investment we have made, we already have one of the youngest train fleets in Europe, but recently I announced plans to add 1,000 extra rail carriages to increase capacity across many parts of the network.

Alongside this, Network Rail unveiled a £2.5 billion investment programme to enhance the railways over the next two years.

And while the challenge of capacity is real, so too is the progress we have made. While the railway is currently carrying more than a billion passenger journeys a year, performance has also improved markedly, with around 90% of services now running on time."

"Let me now turn to the second area the Eddington study identified as crucial to growth and competitiveness:  - inter-urban connections –  which, of course, are vital to you in business, and vital to the regional and national economy.

The modernised West Coast Main Line, for example, is playing a major role improving connections between London, Manchester and Glasgow, cutting journey times between London and Manchester by around half an hour.

And we're looking carefully at longer-term ways to boost rail travel between main urban areas.

A key part of this could be a new generation of inter-city trains. Indeed the successor to the Intercity 125's - the Intercity Express Programme - is potentially the most significant rolling stock investment programme in the UK for over 30 years.

This summer we will set out our future spending plans for rail - showing how we intend to build upon recent improvements in performance and greater reliability, and how we plan to increase capacity on the network.

Yet notwithstanding the importance and prominence of rail, the overwhelming number of journeys in our country are still made by road.

So we will continue to develop our road infrastructure, building new roads where appropriate, and improving the way we use the existing network."