Transport for the North has set out the needs of the North when it comes to rail investment through its submission to the National Infrastructure Commission’s call for evidence on the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands.
Barry White, Chief Executive of the statutory transport body, has explained to railbusinessdaily.com about why now is the time for Government to not only listen to the North, but to act on what its leaders are calling for.
“Our region has been underfunded for decades when it comes to transport infrastructure. Spending per head is well below the London level – the capital has received on average more than twice as much public transport spending per capita than the North or the UK over the last 10 years to 2018 (£739 compared to £305 according to IPPR North figures) – and yet the benefits that people and businesses in the North stand to gain from better connectivity are substantial.
Transport for the North is working to change this imbalance in investment, using evidence, experience and influence to get our region moving. This week we made our submission to the National Infrastructure Commission – the body tasked with providing evidence to support the Government in developing an Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands.
The message from our Members – the 20 Local Transport Authorities and 11 Local Enterprise Partnerships of the North – is clear: ‘The North urgently needs a pipeline of sustained investment in our rail network over the next 20 years, and we must have a seat at the decision-making table’.
Committed funding for a Northern infrastructure pipeline of vital rail schemes – as outlined in our Strategic Transport Plan and Investment Programme approved and submitted in 2019 – will rebalance decades of underinvestment and set our people and businesses on the road to economic growth.
This pipeline is made up of a range of schemes – from the large infrastructure projects like Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2 and the TransPennine Route Upgrade, to the more localised schemes on the existing network that are “shovel-ready” and can bring improvements to capacity and reliability in the next few years.
By integrating the schemes and seeing them as vital pieces in a larger jigsaw puzzle, we can help our region through post-Covid-19 recovery and on to economic growth. By getting started now on the short and medium-term projects that can ease congestion on the network and encourage multimodal travel, we can support people and businesses as they start to move around more and take advantage of new opportunities. And by committing to the long-term projects that will benefit generations to come, we can give our region a solid foundation of connectivity that works locally, regionally, nationally and internationally and joins up the network for people getting to jobs and businesses transporting their goods.
Through the Integrated Rail Plan we can take a vital and massive step towards levelling up the North and rebalancing the decades of underinvestment that has constrained us.
We need the Government to work with us on deciding and delivering the schemes within the Integrated Rail Plan. By giving our political and business leaders decision-making powers, and making funding commitments to the projects needed, we can ensure the plan truly delivers for the people and businesses of the North. Our direct involvement will ensure the needs of passengers are front and centre, and that we build a rail network that meets our future needs as well as our more immediate ones. The full details on all the recommendations we’ve made are in our submission, and among them are key projects such as:
- speeding up delivery of shared infrastructure between HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, such as in Crewe at the HS2 hub station.
- exploring alignment between major projects spanning east to west, including through the important Central Pennines corridor and the reinstatement of the line linking Colne and Skipton.
- delivering ‘quick wins’ on the existing network and advancing investments to tackle bottlenecks, including on the Manchester Castlefield Corridor; the East Coast Main Line route to Newcastle and the North East; the Cumbrian Coast Line; and in the Sheffield City Region.
We’ve got many reasons to be optimistic that all of these things can happen. They’ll be building on previous achievements and successes, such as support for Northern Powerhouse Rail, work already completed on projects like Leeds station and new trains delivered through the Rail North Partnership’s oversight of franchises.
Getting the Integrated Rail Plan confirmed, and acting on it promptly, are essential – the North cannot remain at the back of the queue and still be making the same pleas in another 20 years’ time. The North stands ready to work with Government on making the “levelling up” agenda a reality, and now is the prime time to make it happen.”
Barry White, Chief Executive of Transport for the North
· IPPR North figures: https://www.ippr.org/files/2019-08/transport-investment-in-the-northern-powerhouse-august19.pdf
Photo credit: Transport for the North
