Midlands Connect tells MPs to get on board with regional rail investment
Regional transport body Midlands Connect has argued “this is the time to invest in the future prosperity of the Midlands” as MPs prepare a report on regional rail investment.
Maria Machancoses, the director of Midlands Connect, told the Commons Transport Committee that it is time investment in the region’s railways matched the growth ambitions of its towns, cities and businesses.
“We’re no longer saying, ‘we’re the poor Midlands, take care of us’,” she said. “We’re saying there is a huge momentum, our cities and towns and sectors have clear ambition for growth, our railways are being used, so this is the time to invest in the future prosperity of the Midlands.”
Midlands Connect wants the Select Committee to get on board with three issues it wants putting on the right track.
The transport body continues to make its case that the East Midlands Hub station at Toton should be partially open to Network Rail Services in the 2020s, while it is looking for solutions to link it to services through Leicester.
It also wants the role of sub-national transport bodies – Midlands Connect, Transport for the North and Merseytravel – to be given greater importance when strategies are being set and decisions made on transport investment programmes.
Thirdly, it is seeking clarity from the Government on how it will use a new “Rebalancing the Economy Toolkit” designed to address disparities in regional spending.
Machancoses said: “We don’t want to just be consultees, we want to help and work with government in shaping that programme of investment in the future…We’ve been given the funds to accelerate some important priorities, but what matters for us is the delivery, not just projects and concepts. It’s about making things happen.”
The cancellation of electrification on parts of the Midland Main Line last July was raised by Committee Chair and Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood.
Machancoses added: “We were not consulted, we were actually disappointed, not only with the decision but the way the decision was communicated.
“It did have a massive knock on effect with the rail sector which the East Midlands is terribly proud of.”
