UCR calls for a strategic transport network
The Government’s Union Connectivity Review highlights where passenger and freight corridors could be improved to bring the UK closer together.
THE Government published the final version of its Union Connectivity Review at the end of November, which recommends that investment be concentrated on a number of passenger and freight corridors to bring greater cohesion between the four countries of the UK.
Under the title of ‘UKNET’, the corridors form the basis for future network planning, when funding will be given to projects that have UK-wide benefits and improve union connectivity.
The review acknowledges that further home working could reduce passenger demand in individual conurbations, but UKNET is seen as mostly focused on longer distance inter-city and inter-regional travel. Most commuter trips are either within cities or accessing cities from satellite towns, but there are examples of shorter distance, cross-border connections – such as travel between North Wales and
North West England, and from South East Wales to the Greater Bristol area.
The review also says that where it is not possible to connect economic regions directly to the strategic network, access should made be available via a local network. Examples of these include Norwich, Peterborough, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Swindon, where the future East West Rail project will provide connectivity with the East and West coast corridors.
The UKNET corridors embrace airports that are used by at least five million passengers per year, or a domestic throughput of more than 500,000 passengers, or which serve capital cities of the UK nations.
Ports are also included, although both the passenger and freight markets are highly concentrated, with just 10 ports accounting for 70% of maritime freight and 78% of passengers. The Review has defined strategic seaports as those which serve key domestic and international passenger routes, those with annual freight movements of more than 15 million tonnes or those that have been designated with freeport status.
North Wales Corridor
In North Wales, 25% of employees were found to cross the border to access employment. The review mapped out deficiencies in the train service, which does not allow commuter journeys from the coastal towns and only offers a poor connection to Manchester Airport.
While Holyhead continues as a gateway to Ireland, used by 1.9 million passengers and 5.3 million tonnes of goods in 2019, there is not a single rail freight movement to the port.
Improvements to line speeds and capacity on the North Wales Main Line and in the Cheshire/ Mersey area would enable faster journey times and support enhanced cross-border links for jobs, housing and social cohesion.
The North Wales Main Line also needs to be better connected with HS2 at Crewe so that North Wales can take advantage of the benefits of the high-speed line. Stakeholders have identified the potential benefits of electrification, including reduced carbon emissions, which would support the UK’s climate change commitments.
Transport for Wales has been developing plans for a North Wales Metro and improvements to rail infrastructure. This includes line speed and capacity enhancement, upgrades between Wrexham, Bidston and Liverpool, expanding Chester Station, and a Crewe Hub interface to maximise the benefits of HS2.
Noting that several different infrastructure schemes are already in development on this corridor and that, to date, these have been developed independently from each other, a more multi-modal approach would be desirable, to decide the best way to address the strategic needs of this corridor.
A specific project that would benefit from appraisal is to provide a new three-mile connection from the midCheshire line to Manchester Airport, which would transform rail access from North Wales and alleviate the congestion that exists in central Manchester.
South Wales and the Welsh Marches
Cardiff is well connected to London by rail, but is currently the UK’s least well-connected major city. The review has made recommendations to improve Cardiff’s connectivity through the Welsh Marches Corridor.
Rail journey times are relatively long and capacity is limited between Cardiff and Birmingham. Improvements to the quality and range of direct connections between Cardiff and other major regions, such as Yorkshire and North East England, would enhance the connectivity of the Welsh capital.
In the South Wales and Greater Bristol areas, there is a relatively large population on both sides of the border, with significant interaction in terms of people and road-based freight movement.
Cardiff Airport has poor public transport access, with the nearest railway station being a 3.3km (2 mile) journey from the terminal. In 2019, private vehicles accounted for a 87% share of the surface access mode. Public transport services to the airport are expected to be improved as part of the South Wales Metro project, which includes new stations, routes and development of light rail and bus rapid transit.
Feeder access to UKNET is provided by the Cambrian main line from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury and then onward to Birmingham, and is important for connectivity for communities in Mid-Wales. The Review supports further frequency and capacity improvements to improve connectivity between Mid Wales and the Midlands.
West and East Coasts
The Review was hampered by the Scottish Government declining to take part, and there was therefore no official input from Transport Scotland, although ScotRail and a number of councils and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce did contribute. There is a direct correlation between rail journey time and the market share held by domestic air flows, so rail times should be minimised by investment where possible. Excluding private car use, 29% of journeys between England and Scotland in 2019 were made by rail, giving air travel a share of over 70%. It is estimated that a reduction in the rail journey time from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London to three hours would reverse the position, with demand for air travel then declining to 25%. For the West Coast Main Line, the review identifies there is the potential for a range of infrastructure interventions, including replacing and enhancing track, signalling and power supply systems, and the possibility of new sections of line north of Preston. The potential benefit is to maximise line speed for non-tilting HS2 trains and create greater freight capacity.
It was reported that communities in the Scottish Borders are enthusiastic about the economic and social benefits resulting from an extension of the Borders Railway from Tweedbank to Carlisle. There are two main justifications for this: the first as an alternative through route, although capacity issues would have to be resolved on the section of line already built; and the second is the volume of timber that currently leaves Kielder Forest by road, but which is adjacent to the railway if reopened.
To test the options £5 million has been made available by Westminster for the development of an Outline Strategic Business Case to evaluate the benefit cost implications.
For the East Coast main line, the decision not to build the eastern leg of HS2 will worsen future Anglo-Scottish journey times on the route, although suggestions of a line speed upgrade to 140mph will improve timings if this is approved.
North Channel
This is centred on the port of Cairnryan, south-west Scotland, which provides the shortest sea crossing to Northern Ireland, with a corridor that extends to the central Scotland industrial belt, Carlisle, Middlesbrough, and Newcastle. The lack of rail connectivity prompted an earlier proposal that a tunnel should be constructed under the sea, but this has been rejected on cost grounds and as a result the focus of investment will be on upgrading the relevant trunk roads.
It is bad enough that the former direct rail route between Dumfries and Stranraer was closed, leaving an inadequate secondary line to reach the port, but even that option has been further degraded by the transfer of ferry operations to Cairnryan, which is not rail served.
At one time there was a rail connection, as a line was built in 1941 for the military port at Cairnryan. There was also an extensive rail layout, which was classified as a military railway, to allow shipping to be diverted away from Liverpool or Glasgow if either of these ports was disabled by wartime bombing. However, rail services ceased in 1960.
Central corridor
The connection between the Humber region and transPennine routes to Liverpool acts as a gateway to Northern Ireland. The route was identified in the Northern Powerhouse Rail proposals as one in need of upgrading and electrification, but the publication of the Integrated Rail Plan in November 2021 revealed the scope has been much reduced, with electrification taking place between Liverpool and York rather than Hull. So far as rail is concerned, the weakness for this corridor is that it is not part of the Strategic Freight Network (SFN), and so routes do not provide W10 gauge clearance to allow 9ft 6in high containers to be carried on standard height wagon platforms. The Review noted that a new Future of Freight Strategic Plan is to be published by the DfT before the end of 2021, which can be expected to include new routes as part of the SFN.
“There is a direct correlation between rail journey time and the market share held by domestic air flows”