So much for the plans to bridge the north-south divide!
What has happened to George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse? Was it just an election ploy?
It has all gone quiet, and we are now seeing what appears to be a reversal of the hope and expectation that we up north were so excited about.
Electrification of the Windermere branch - cancelled.
Electrification of the Manchester-Leeds corridor - no progress.
HS3 across the North? Not a word.
Midland Main Line electrification to Sheffield - cancelled.
Crewe-North Wales electrification - not planned.
HS2 link to Liverpool - not a word.
Faster trains ManchesterChester and Manchester-Buxton - none.
But… we have the new Ordsall Chord (less than a mile long) and the single-track Halton curve (about two miles long).
Meanwhile, London, about to enjoy Crossrail 1, is also to get Crossrail 2. The cost of these new lines being…?
Why does the national media not lay into the cost of these, instead of criticising HS2? They still harp on about the ludicrous time saving between London and Birmingham, whereas the reality is that the high-speed lines will be a benefit to the North and Midlands in every way, and also to Scotland one day.
But it is the nitty-gritty bits of the North that now feel cheated out of Osborne’s proposal. HS2 will be welcomed, but the other side of the coin is that we are bereft compared with the South East and London - and will be for years. William Murgatroyd, Stockport