More investment key to regional development

“Our message is keep up the investment,” Transport for the North Strategic Rail Director David Hoggarth told RAIL in an exclusive interview on July 15.

Speaking the day after a TfN committee meeting that heard updates on how COVID-19 has affected the region’s railways, and their response to the pandemic, Hoggarth said: “We have a lot of stuff in the pipeline and we have to keep going - that is the model we have argued for.”

A week earlier, the Summer Statement by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak promised £10 million to help eliminate the Castlefield Corridor capacity concerns.

But that was all rail in the UK received, despite constant messages from Government that the industry would help the UK’s economic recovery ( RAIL 909).

“We were pleased for the £10m for Manchester, but what we want to see is a pipeline and a bigger commitment to ‘levelling up’ the economy,” said Hoggarth.

“Investment has been stop/start, whereas we have a long-term strategy and are working through the investment plan. We have Northern Powerhouse Rail, but there’s conventional work that could be done now that could support it.

“Part of our ask is that as long as the budget is devolved then the joint client model works. Local input can help to understand how all the parts fit together.”

Hoggarth also spoke about the need for skills: “Rather than wait for an initiative we need to look at what is needed. The problem is that there are a lot of skills we need, like for electrification, that have gone.”

Regarding the Northern franchise, which since March

1 has been managed by the Government’s Operator of Last

Resort, he said: “We were seeing growth. The latest Office of Rail and Road figures showed that.”

Hoggarth told RAIL he believes there is supressed demand for services in northern England, but it’s been hard to get that view across when pushing for investment.

He also believes that postCOVID-19, there will be less business but more leisure travel.

In the longer term, he said TfN’s goal is an Oyster-style system across northern England that can be integrated with other modes of transport: “The rail bit is the easier and that’s unusual, but it’s because the franchises had more direct involvement in tickets than other modes.”

This would follow a phased approach to Smart ticketing, with the first tickets now being introduced between Leeds and Harrogate. Flexible season tickets would be the next step.