Blow for rail links as freight plans are scrapped
Passenger trains upgrade is priority, say DfT officials
CRUCIAL PLANS to massively upgrade rail links for freight traffic across the North of England are set to be abandoned, The
Yorkshire Post can reveal. Officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) have let freight bosses know they will only put forward plans to electrify the route between Leeds and Manchester for passenger trains, with plans to apply the same improvements to freight trains set to be scrapped for the foreseeable future.
The recommendation – given by the DfT’s internal Board Investment and Commercial Committee to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling – comes after more than two years of campaigning by the freight industry.
It hoped to secure an upgrade in infrastructure for the transportation of goods between the East and West of the country, allowing for the faster and greener movement of goods and the alleviation of congestion on the M62.
The campaign was based on extensive computer modelling and long-range projections which all show that the volume of goods to be transported around the North of England is set to vastly increase in the coming years.
But now officials have decided that the electrification scheme will be progressed over the next five years without any provision being built in for freight.
Instead, ‘passive provision’ will be made for freight were funds to become available at an unspecified later date.
Freight bosses say they have been left “disappointed and dissatisfied” after DfT officials elected not to back the upgrade.
Mike Hogg, North of England representative for the Rail Freight Group, told The Yorkshire Post: “We are very disappointed and dissatisfied with the recommendation. We cannot see the rationale. With our members, we put together a 20-30 year traffic projection and passed this to the DfT last May.
“We have a lot of confidence in the market and that traffic will run to the quantity we project. It now looks like all of that is going to have to go onto the M62.”
Mr Hogg said the North’s economy was being constrained by inadequate rail freight infrastructure when compared to neighbouring countries.
“When you go to Rotterdam and Antwerp, close to the docks there are an abundance of trains ready to transport goods all across Europe,” he said.
“When you get to the British side it is the road and nothing else – and the reason for that is the lack of capacity and the lack of capability. We are still relying on a Victorian infrastructure.”
A DfT spokeswoman said rail freight played “a vital role” but did not commit to that upgrade.
“The Transpennine Route Upgrade is the biggest planned investment project in the UK on our existing railway,” she said. “Further upgrades will be considered once we have established what will be delivered first.”
She added that the DfT would focus first on “those upgrades which will lead to the biggest improvements for passengers”.
ANDREA LEADSOM, the Leader of the House of Commons, is symptomatic of those Cabinet ministers who think they can appease this region by simply uttering the words ‘Northern Powerhouse’.
Yet, when she tried this tactic in response to questions from Yorkshire MPs Judith Cummins and Diana Johnson, the Cabinet minister’s patronising tone exposed the Government’s limitations.
More than six months after the introduction of calamitous changes to the timetable, passengers on trans-Pennine services simply want their train to run on time as reliability and punctuality continues to deteriorate. This is the short-term priority.
Next, they want specific details about how Ministers intend to upgrade the main railway between Leeds and Manchester which remains a relic of the Victorian era. A medium-term objective, myriad broken promises by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling have led to a breakdown of trust.
Finally, the long-term ambition is a railway line to rival Crossrail – minus the cost over-runs and construction delays afflicting the flagship scheme in London – so there is capacity for sufficient passenger and freight trains to run to meet this region’s economic needs.
Though these are all separate objectives, they are each fundamental to the future of this line and the Rail Freight Group’s misgivings about the Government’s approach, and its failure to meet the needs of wider industry, do not bode well.
If the amount of vehicles, and lorries, on the region’s roads is to be curtailed, the Department for Transport need to be planning ahead now rather than paying lip service to the North and thinking, like Ms Leadsom, that it is job done. It is not, hence the need for full financial and policy-making powers to be transferred to Transport for the North so this region can take back control of investment before it is too late.