Electrification delays set to hit TransPennine route

The electrification of the TransPennine route, along with the Great Western and Midland Mainline routes is set to be hit with delays.

A funding squeeze at Network Rail is being blamed for the proposed delays, according to The Sunday Times, with transport secretary Chris Grayling preparing to announce the hold-up this week.

Plans to upgrade the routes have been pushed back by years in favour of dual diesel and electric routes. Now it will be told to focus on maintaining and repairing the 20,000 miles of track and stations.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority chairman councillor Keith Wakefield said: “If Transport secretary Chris Grayling is preparing to delay the upgrade of this crucial rail link, it really does raise a question mark about the Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse and narrowing the economic gap between north and south.

“An article in the same newspaper [Sunday Times] quoted Northern Powerhouse Partnership board member and former Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neill arguing the case for better connections across the Pennines and halving the train journey from Manchester to Leeds to 30 minutes. And in 2014, then Prime Minister David Cameron said that better links across the Pennines would “make the most of the economic strength we have got in Leeds and Manchester and other cities besides.

“Yet now it looks like this work, already put on hold in 2015 by Mr Chris Grayling’s predecessor Patrick McLoughlin, is being returned to the back-burner while the government seeks a cheaper solution.

“Just weeks ago Mr Grayling was in Halifax on the general election campaign trail making assurances about the government’s transport plans for the north but now, post-election it looks like he’s about to kick the trans-Pennine upgrade into the long grass.

“What we need to see now is Ministers reaffirming, in no uncertain terms, their commitment to the Northern Powerhouse and the investment needed to make it a reality.”