Upgrades to vital rail links are still years off
Infrastructure work ‘will be done by early 2020s’
VITAL IMPROVEMENTS to rail services in Yorkshire on Britain’s flagship East Coast Main Line service may still be years away despite the Government pledging to carry out £780m of infrastructure work on the route.
The confirmation of the funding for Network Rail to carry out upgrades on the line between London and Edinburgh, stopping at several Yorkshire towns and cities, was made by Prime Minister Theresa May as she took her Cabinet to the North-East yesterday.
But the announcement, which includes no new money from central Government beyond what has already been earmarked, was criticised by Labour as a “repackaging of old announcements” which “won’t address the NorthSouth spending gap”.
A senior Yorkshire councillor said it was “disappointing” that capacity upgrades promised between York and Newcastle which are vital for realising the potential for high-speed rail in the region were not included in the plans.
And questions remained last night over when the improvements to services promised when Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) took over the route in 2015, such as improved journey times and an increase in the number of trains, will be delivered.
VTEC, which earlier this year was forced to relinquish the franchise, promised regular journey times of two hours between Leeds and London by May 2020 as well as new services to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough and extra services to Sunderland, Leeds and York.
A government briefing document seen by The Yorkshire Post said only that “it remains our intention to deliver further service enhancements and journey time reductions when it is possible to do so”, and that extra services will be delivered later than originally planned.
When asked about the promised improvements, a Department for Transport spokesman said the work would be done by the “early 2020s”.
The infrastructure upgrades include improvements to the power supply, as well as changes to platforms, tracks, signals and junctions, but according to the briefing document several delivery plans are yet to be finalised.
The plans include upgrading overhead cables north of Doncaster to allow the next-generation Azuma Class 800 trains to run at full speed while still increasing capacity by a quarter on the route. The power supply was upgraded between London and South Yorkshire last year, but improvements further north were not included in Network Rail’s five-year spending plans so will not now be done until 2021.
Eric Firth of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee said: “While investment in our transport infrastructure is welcome, these upgrades have been promised before so it is critically important that Network Rail sets out realistic timetables for when these projects will be completed and is transparent in their delivery.”
WHILE ON initial inspection it would be churlish not to welcome the confirmation of £780m of funding to pay for muchneeded improvements to rail services in Yorkshire, the announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May, timed to coincide with her Cabinet’s visit to the North-East, demands further scrutiny.
No new money for the infrastructure work that is planned on the East Coast Main Line route is being promised beyond funds that had already been announced; the current proposals do not include previously promised capacity upgrades for services between York and Newcastle and what is due to happen is still years away.
The improvements, including regular journey times of two hours between Leeds and London by May 2020 as well as new services to Huddersfield and Middlesbrough, were first announced back in 2015 when Virgin Trains East Coast took over the route franchise, and were meant to have been in place by May 2020. However, the Department for Transport, led by its Minister Chris Grayling, can now only say the work will be done by the early 2020s.
Weary northern passengers who have seen long-promised schemes such as the electrification work between Sheffield and London scrapped will be within their rights to be cynical on exactly when these new plans will see the light of day. But it is to be hoped that both the Prime Minister and her beleaguered Transport Secretary have learned the lessons of a chastening few months involving unprecedented travel chaos on northern rail routes.
This work is vital to both improving services on the existing line and facilitating the successful future delivery of highspeed services. Delivering these improvements is now a litmus test in proving if the Government’s stated commitment to the North can be trusted. If it cannot, there is trouble on the track.