Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander travelled to Cambridge on Monday to slap down some concrete to mark the start of works on the new Cambridgeshire Guided Busway.

When completed in 2009 the guided busway will be the longest busway in the world – but it will also have blocked attempts to make the rail network more effective.

The busway will cost £116million, more than it would have cost to reinstate the disused railway between St Ives and Cambridge. The majority of people in the area favoured reopening the rail line but the Department for Transport, egged on by the pro-road Government Office for the East of England, decided to give £92million for a busway.

According to propagandists for the road lobby, the busway will provide "excellent transport links".

Mr Alexander said: "This investment clearly signals the Government's continuing commitment to support and promote the economy of Cambridgeshire."

He claimed: "This development aims to give people better public transport choices."

County Councillor John Reynolds said: "We have spent many years planning and preparing for the guided busway."

The busway will allow developers to say there is a public transport link to Northstowe, a proposed new town of 8,000 homes.

The propagandists also claim the busway will persuade people not to drive their cars despite the fact that people have shown they are unwilling to switch from car to bus but will switch from car to train.

Tim Phillips of The Cambridge And St. Ives Railway Organisation - Cast-Iron – which wanted the railway reinstated – said the busway would do nothing to resolve the issue of heavy lorries on the A14.

In Indonesia a busway accident on Sunday left four people injured. This year, four people have died while five others have been injured in accidents on the TransJakarta busway.

CAST-IRON planned to reinstate the railway as in the map above.

For more information The Cambridge And St. Ives Railway Organisation CAST-IRON