Leaders criticise rail timetables

TRANSPORT: Northern political leaders have sharply criticised the rail industry after it emerged none of the proposed timetable changes put forward to ease congestion at a key part of the network can actually be delivered and there was no prospect of a badly needed infrastructure fix until the 2030s.

NORTHERN POLITICAL leaders have sharply criticised the rail industry after it emerged none of the proposed timetable changes put forward to ease congestion at a key part of the network can actually be delivered and there was no prospect of a badly needed infrastructure fix until the 2030s.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham led a series of angry responses at a Transport for the North board meeting on Friday, saying it was “embarrassing” the rail industry had put forward “non-workable options” aimed at relieving pressure on the network in central Manchester for a major public consultation earlier this year.

Pressure on the congested area played a significant part in the massive disruption to services across the North that followed timetable changes in May 2018.

Mayor Burnham said that at a meeting of the Rail North Committee earlier on Friday it had been “made apparent to us that the options that we consulted on for the May 2022 timetable were not deliverable options”.

He went on: “I think we need better than this from the rail industry. In any of our worlds, if we went out to consult on options that weren’t deliverable we would rightly be heavily criticised for wasting people’s time.

“It just isn’t acceptable to me that three years on from the chaos of May 2018 we are in a position where there is no clarity about the thinking around a workable timetable nor is there any clarity still about an infrastructure plan for central Manchester that would actually fix these things long term.

“If I were to put together the two elements that were presented to us this morning, from what I heard there is no prospect of a fix for the infrastructure that would actually fix the timetable until the early 2030s.

“I do not believe the rail industry is prioritising the north of England as the Secretary of State has called on people to do – to accelerate change in the north of England.

“We are going to go into a phase now where we need to see acceleration of ambitions with regard to the government’s levelling up agenda and it feels to me that the rail industry is not in any way in a position to match those ambitions around levelling up and things need to change.”

Other senior figures echoed Mayor Burnham’s criticisms including Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe, who said: “It just illustrates the wider point about the investment that is so needed in the north of England to improve our rail infrastructure, not just on a local basis but on intra-city connectivity across the north as well.

“Government needs to demonstrate they are serious about putting that long-term investment in place.”

Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis called the situation “unacceptable”.

The board agreed to write to the Government to press for an urgent meeting of the recently formed Northern Transport Acceleration Council to tackle the issue.

I do not believe the rail industry is prioritising the north of England.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.