Manchester to Hull by train in 75 minutes?
TRANSPORT BOSS’S PLEA TO SLASH JOURNEY TIMES ACROSS THE NORTH
TRAIN times from Hull to Manchester of just an hour and a quarter are being targeted in a move that would slash 45 minutes off current journeys.
Speaking during a visit to Hull yesterday morning, Barry White, Transport for the North chief executive, admitted rail services had let people down this year.
He said, however, that plans to improve journey times from Hull to northern cities such as Manchester hinged on electrification of the Selby line – plans that were controversially thrown out by the Government in 2016.
Mr White said: “We appreciate people have been very frustrated, and things have not been good enough.
“Pressure is now being put on rail companies to improve. What must happen is the industry must put passengers at the heart of decision-making.
“We are putting together really ambitious plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail, and they will have Hull at the centre of a network connecting all the cities in the north.”
A report published yesterday by the Office of Rail and Road said no one had taken responsibility for travel chaos caused in May when a new timetable was brought in.
Passengers across the north suffered delays and cancellations on May 20, and over a period of several weeks Northern Rail cancelled as many as 310 trains every day.
Mr White said across the north, including Hull, there was “a desire to see more frequent and faster train services”.
“I fully agree that these rail problems have gone on for decades, and that is why the plan is so important,” he said.
“The north has been so underinvested in. At the moment the Government allocates £1.5bn a year (on infrastructure), and we believe that figure needs to rise to £2.3bn.
“The first thing needs to be upgrading the existing track. There has been talk about a new rail line between Leeds and Manchester, but the planning for that will take a long time.”
The strategic transport plan proposed by Transport for the North includes seven corridors of opportunity.
Hull and the East Riding features in three of those corridors, including providing a better connection between Hull and places such as Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool.
At the moment, just 10,000 people live within a 60-minute train journey from four or more major northern cities.
Under the proposals, this figure would increase to 1.3m.
“We have got a target of one hour 15 minutes from Hull to Manchester, and that will be a significant improvement on the current journey times,” Mr White said.
“We believe the plans will require electrification of the line, and we are asking local businesses and MPS to back the proposals.
“We need to persuade the Government to put money behind these plans.”
First Hull Trains first proposed a fast-track electrification of the 70 miles of track between Hull and Selby in 2013.
The cost of the scheme was estimated at about £100m, but plans were rejected by the Government.