Trans-Pennine row delays rail proposals
‘Abysmal’ service is attacked in debate
PLANS FOR a high speed rail network serving the great cities of the North are yet to be submitted to the Government because of fears the leg connecting Manchester and Liverpool could be prioritised over the trans-Pennine section, The Yorkshire Post can reveal.
Transport for the North’s business case for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) was due to be handed in to the Department for Transport for consideration this month, with a decision due in 2019.
But it will not now be signed off for submission until February at the earliest after local leaders east of the Pennines raised concerns that the Manchester-toLiverpool leg could be built before the trans-Pennine element.
The Yorkshire Post understands from multiple sources that leaders in West Yorkshire and Newcastle have both stressed to Transport for the North the importance of a ‘whole network’ approach rather than smaller elements being fast-tracked.
Last month, this newspaper revealed that Chancellor Philip Hammond and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling were considering whether the HS2 highspeed rail project connecting London to Leeds and Manchester could be extended to Liverpool.
It is understood any extension could form the first stage of NPR, but would happen more quickly than the rest of the scheme by using the statutory instruments already in place for HS2.
But the suggestion that the
trans-Pennine element of the proposed route could be deemed less important has led to TfN being challenged by local leaders.
The lack of agreement meant the item last week at TfN’s board where the strategic outline business case for NPR was due to be agreed was shelved at the last minute. It will go back before the board, made up of senior politicians from across the North, in February.
In a statement, TfN said a decision was taken “to make space for further fine-tuning, allowing members to feed-in fully and have chance to digest all the details.” A spokeswoman said the delay would not affect the overall timescale for the project.
And TfN’s Northern Powerhouse Rail Director Tim Wood said of the submission: “At this early stage – as is standard practice – a number of options are under consideration. And nothing is ruled out. This includes a variety of potential routes as well as options for how the network might be built.”
“This is the first step of the journey, one where we prove Northern Powerhouse Rail is deliverable, affordable and transformational. There will be more detailed discussions to come as we move into the next stage of development.”
The £35bn NPR scheme will shorten journeys from Leeds to Manchester, via Bradford, to half an hour and connect up to Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle. Transport officials say it is vital for delivering the ‘Northern powerhouse’ ambitions of creating a ‘virtual city’ across the North which would rival London.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post at Leeds station this week, Rail Minister Andrew Jones said of the Northern Powerhouse Rail submission: “When Transport for the North are ready to publish it, I am ready to receive it. I look forward to receiving it.
“We can’t pre-judge where it is going to be because we haven’t had the report yet. My point was, this is a great scheme for the North, we should be getting behind it. It is from the North, for the North, but don’t delay.”
DELAYED JOURNEYS caused by “abysmal” rail services are damaging people’s mental health as they face being late for work and struggling to get home to see their families.
Warnings over the human cost of unreliable trains have been made by Yorkshire MPs who condemned chaos facing commuters around the county at a parliamentary debate.
Rail operators Northern and TransPennine Express were criticised in the Westminster Hall session, led by the Dewsbury Labour MP Paula Sherriff.
Miss Sherriff said eight out of 10 of the worst performing stations in the UK are in the socalled Northern Powerhouse area, while 90 per cent of top performing stations are in London.
She said: “This is having a significant impact on people’s mental health.
“Not having any idea of whether they are gong to get to work, potentially getting into quite serious trouble when they are late again for the fourth consecutive day running. Not knowing if they are gong to get home in time to put their children to bed or see their partner, so it’s having a massive effect on family life.”
Her concerns were echoed by MPs from around the region, including Thirsk and Malton Tory Kevin Hollinrake, who said promised improvements to services had not been made. A LACK of disabled access at railway stations around the region was criticised at a parliamentary debate.
And MPs were told that people using one Yorkshire station, Dewsbury, were advised to use the toilets at a nearby pub because of a lack of facilities, a situation branded “disgraceful” by Dewsbury Labour MP Paula Sherriff.
She said: “For cultural and many other reasons, people aren’t comfortable going into a pub to use the bathrooms.”
A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “We are working with the local council to install customer toilets and a changing place facility at Dewsbury railway station.”
He said: “It is simply unacceptable for TransPennine to say: ‘We have had these problems and things are getting better.’”
MPs said problems on the railways had continued after timetable changes caused chaos in May.
Barnsley MP Stephanie Peacock said her constituents were forced to use “ancient, overcrowded and overpriced” trains.
Barry Sheerman, Labour’s Huddersfield MP, called for the planned HS2 high-speed rail scheme to be scrapped and funds ploughed into improving existing services. He called HS2 a “vanity project that’s going to cost £100bn”.
Transport Minister Andrew Jones, the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, acknowledged that the timetable changes caused serious problems, saying lessons had been learned.
He said: “We saw disruption in many parts of the country, it wasn’t just in the North. And those who were delayed significantly were able to reclaim money under the Delay-Repay compensation scheme as well.
“Our focus now is all about improving the reliability and operational performance of the railways so we don’t have to have the compensation schemes.”
Northern previously revealed that between November 11 and December 8, only a third of its trains in Yorkshire reached their destinations on time. But both Northern and TransPennine said they were starting to see improvements to their services.
On Saturday, Northern will face its 41st day of strike action in a long-running safety dispute with the RMT union.
Yesterday, the company said it had written to the conciliation service ACAS to request independent inquiry into the dispute.
This is having a significant impact on people’s mental health. Dewsbury Labour MP Paula Sherriff.