Failure to electrify line will kill Northern Powerhouse

Transport minister Jo Johnson has been accused of reneging on promises to electrify the rail line between Leeds and Manchester.

The MP said an announcement on the route upgrade would be made later this year following a report Network Rail report.

The minister said improvements would include “major civil engineering projects and electrification”.
But the MP failed to guarantee full electrification.

He said the government was waiting for Network Rail’s “final options plan” on how to make best use of the £2.9bn for the upgrade.

A final decision on the upgrade will be made once the plan is made public.

The scheme was halted in 2015 as a result of soaring costs of other rail upgrade projects carried out by Network Rail.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: “This will spark real anger and outrage across the north of England.

“People here have been at the back of the queue for transport investment for as long as any of us can remember and this would leave promises of a northern powerhouse in tatters.

“At a time when we are looking to phase out diesel cars, it seems that this government thinks it is acceptable to have diesel trains running across the north of England for decades to come.

“That tells you all need to know about how they view the north.”
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said failure to electrify the line would “kill any notion of a Northern Powerhouse”.

And Manchester MP Lucy Powell said: “Coming off the back of all the turmoil that we’ve seen on Northern rail and elsewhere recently, isn’t this equivocation on the electrification of the Manchester to Leeds line just another real serious blow for people in the North, who now feel overwhelmingly, time and time again, they are getting a second-class service from this government?”

Fellow Labour’s MP Mike Kane accused Mr Johnson was “reneging” on the commitment.