It’s been encouraging to see the bids starting to roll in to be headquarters of Great British Railways.

It’s equally pleasing to see that some of my predictions are among the towns and cities hoping to be the chosen site for GBR.

The council leader in York says it makes “perfect sense” for the city to be chosen given its railway history and the fact that LNER, Northern Railway and Grand Central are all based there.

And in South Yorkshire, Doncaster is said to be the ideal location given both Mallard and Flying Scotsman locomotives came from there.

But it’s not about who’s first – or fastest – to make their pitch.

I also mentioned Crewe as a possibility. Its status has been enhanced by the announcement of a shortlist of bidders for the new section of Britain’s high speed rail network which will connect the West Midlands and Crewe.

Transport Minister Andrew Stephenson (specifically HS2 minister) gave a confident and upbeat assessment of progress on the High Speed network to Parliament.

The project has cost £15.3bn to date and the report acknowledged some “future potential cost pressures”.

There’s a lot riding on HS2: not just jobs but also the Government’s credibility in turning its slogan “Build Back Better” into reality.

Crossrail is currently running four years late and needs more money to ensure completion.

The Channel Tunnel cost 80% more than expected.

As all sectors look to recovering from the pandemic, there is still a lot of work to be done not just on construction but also persuasion in terms of the benefits of HS2.