Rail electrification scheme between Hull and Selby scrapped

DESPITE plans for major investment in Northern transport, plans to electrify the Hull to Selby route have been rejected.

First Hull Trains planned to electrify the line since 2013, and in 2014 then Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin committed £2.4m to the project.

The total cost of the electrification scheme was predicted to be £100m in 2013.

However the government has now done a U-turn on their decision, saying in a letter to MPs that it would cause more disruption than it was worth.

The plan had been to electrify 70 miles of track, which would guarantee shorter travel times between Hull and the rest of the North.

The Department of Transport said that the introduction of bi-mode trains, which run on diesel or electricity, had improved services and had meant that electrification was unnecessary.