Think bigger on rail upgrades
Major transport upgrades must not further isolate already cut off communities, N o r t h E a s t l e a d e r s h ave warned.
Following a call for ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects, regional bosses have set out their case of millions to be spent on schemes such as upgrading the East Coast Mainline between London, Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
But ministers have been urged to ensure cash pumped in to benefit one area does not inadvertently mean somewhere else is left worse off.
“We need to ensure the emphasis on the East Coast Mainline does not disadvantage those places not directly attached to it,” said Graeme Miller, the leader of Sunderland City Council.
“It should not divert resources away from the Durham Coast Line, for example. And [the reopening of the] Leamside Line should include Penshaw to South Hylton explicitly, to give Sunderland [a link to] the national rail network.”
Cllr Miller was speaking at a meeting of the North East Joint
Transport Committee.
According to the panel’s ‘Connected North East’ infrastructure blueprint, an overhaul of railway timetables has been identified as a ‘shovel ready’ scheme to ‘connect underserved communities’.
Earlier this year the Government set aside £900m for its Getting BuildingFundinthe hopes of kick-starting a postCOVID economic recovery by providing cash for ‘shovelready infrastructure projects’.
Reopening the Leamside Line, mothballed in 1990, has been a long held target of regional transport chiefs.
It is hoped this could link the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington’s Nissan car plant and other parts of Sunderland,
as well as pave the way for extending the Metro south as far as Ferryhill.
It could also double capacity on the East Coast Mainline, which bosses want to see upgraded in the next decade to take advantage of the planned High Speed 2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail projects.
Cllr Miller also suggested ministers need to think bigger on rail infrastructure.
“It is pointless taking HS2 to Newcastle and stopping there,” he added. “We need to make the Government understand therehastobelinkagebetween the capital of England and the capital of Scotland and all the benefits that brings to every piece of territory that line then moves through.”