The Scottish government is pressing ahead with plans to build a high-speed railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, a senior Scottish official said on Monday.

Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a press release that the project will cut journey time to under 30 minutes and is expected to be completed by 2024, at least 10 years ahead of the current British government proposals.

Sturgeon is attending the two-day conference on high-speed railway in Glasgow, which brings together politicians, rail industry experts and representatives from across Scotland and Britain. The current 67 km journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow by train takes about one hour.

It was estimated that the project would cost 8 billion pounds (about 12.7 billion U.S. dollars), and bring 24 billion pounds (38.1 billion U.S. dollars) of economic benefits to Scotland.

Transport Scotland will work with the British government and the rail industry to establish the exact cost as there are a number of variable factors, such as length of track, any additional stations required. Endi

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