How ‘deplorable’ east-west rail divide betrays Yorkshire – Andrew Adonis

THERE are two aspects of the Integrated Rail Plan that I strongly welcome: the decision to move ahead with a metro system for Leeds and the decision to electrify the Midland Main Line and the trans-Pennine line.
Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?
Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?

However, these both reflect chaotic and inconsistent transport planning over the last 25 years.

A tram system for Leeds was first proposed more than 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the government of which I was a member cancelled that plan. There was supposed to be a trolleybus scheme, but that bit the dust too. We have come full circle.

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The same is true of both electrification schemes. Electrification of the Midland Main Line and the trans-Pennine line was announced 10 years ago.

Andrew Adonis is a Labour peer and former transport secretary who spoke in a House of Lords debate on the Integrated Rail Plan.Andrew Adonis is a Labour peer and former transport secretary who spoke in a House of Lords debate on the Integrated Rail Plan.
Andrew Adonis is a Labour peer and former transport secretary who spoke in a House of Lords debate on the Integrated Rail Plan.

Midland Main Line electrification was supposed to follow on directly from Great Western electrification which has been a textbook case of disaster in terms of cost overruns, descoping and failure to meet proper project management specifications.

Both those electrification schemes were then cancelled because of cost overruns and austerity, and they are being revived.

We are now being told that they are a great offering to the Midlands and the North and should make us confident that there will be transformational capacity when, in fact, they are schemes that should have been delivered many years ago if we had any proper planning.

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However, the two big decisions in terms of changes of policy in the Integrated Rail Plan – the cancellation of the eastern leg of HS2 and the cancellation of the new east-west line that was intended to link the Northern cities – are both utterly deplorable.

Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?
Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?

They are deplorable in three ways. First, the eastern side of the country will now essentially be left out of the high-speed rail plan. This will produce a new east-west divide in this country on top of the north-south divide, and overcoming it was a large part of the intention of HS2 in the first place.

When HS2 is now completed, it will take nearly twice as long to get to Leeds as to get to Manchester and there will be only a fraction of the rail capacity going to the eastern side of the country – Sheffield and Leeds – because there is no high-speed line.

High-speed lines treble rail capacity and allow an enormous release of capacity for new local services.

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The second reason why it is deplorable is that it is a complete uprooting of proper and systematic infrastructure planning.

Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?
Will the Government's Integrated Rail Plan lead to a new east-west divide as set out by Labour peer Andrew Adonis?

The plan for HS2 was announced more than 10 years ago. It followed exhaustive work by HS2 Ltd. Indeed, it went back to the plan that Lord Birt, produced for the Blair government in 2003, which recommended that the Government look systematically at the introduction of high-speed lines between our major conurbations.

I was privileged to be the first chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission in 2015. The first report of the National Infrastructure Commission said that HS2 should be completed to Manchester and Leeds, and that there should be a new east-west line.

The third aspect in which it is deplorable is that it uproots cross-party working. We will get no serious infrastructure built in this country unless there is cross-party agreement, because it takes many parliaments to build big infrastructure.

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There was cross-party agreement to HS2 and a new east-west line. There is not cross-party agreement for this Integrated Rail Plan. It is a dog’s breakfast.

The Opposition have said they have no confidence in it and will seek to change it if they come to power.

We are therefore going to take a massive step back in terms of the upgrading of the infrastructure of this country, and the principal loser will unfortunately be the whole eastern side of the country, which could be at a massive economic disadvantage as a result of the IRP, compared with the Midlands and the North West.

Andrew Adonis is a Labour peer and former Transport Secretary who spoke in a Lords debate on the Integrated Rail Plan – this is an edited version.

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