There's no need to wait let’s get Hull better electric trains and save the taxpayer money - Henri Murison
For many years, the Members of Parliament in Hull, the local council and the private sector have been working to bring electric trains first from London, and now from Liverpool and Manchester Airport through Leeds to Hull.
The initial private sector plan was to use private money to build the infrastructure to be able to switch to electric trains to London.
Instead, Hull Trains have had to make do with so-called bi-modes which run on both the overhead electric wires from London up to Doncaster then switch to diesel to reach East Yorkshire.
More recently, as part of Northern Powerhouse Rail the leaders of the city of Hull were promised electrification from Selby to Hull by the previous government, then it was cancelled by Boris when Prime Minister and then put back on the table by one of his successors - the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP (who was at the Treasury when it was cancelled before).
In all this drama it is easy to forget why you may want to run electric trains and at the same time speed up the journey time to Leeds and beyond.
Not only is the diesel fuel and the trains themselves more expensive to buy, but the fact that although travelling by train is better for the environment than driving a petrol or diesel car we as a country have committed to switch to electrically powered trains.
When plans were announced earlier this year by the Chancellor and there was investment from Leeds to Rotherham and Sheffield as well as to Bradford - but no investment in infrastructure to electrify the line to Hull - many were understandably disappointed.
However, it is important to remember that the train network of the North is not only used by those locally to any improvement.
The money committed in Yorkshire benefits services across the whole of the North from the North East travelling through Leeds to Manchester or beyond, and the same is true in the North West for those of us here in Yorkshire trying to get to Manchester Airport.
However, for all the rest of the investment to have maximum benefit for Hull we need to find a way to get an electric train to Hull without in the foreseeable future any new infrastructure paid for by central government.
Fortunately, we have an answer – and they are made here in East Yorkshire in Goole.
Siemens Mobility are one of the train manufacturers who make battery bi-modes which could get to Hull with ease powered by electricity without the need for expensive and disruptive work to put up overhead wires, raise bridges and remove other obstructions in the way.
Government cannot just avoid the cost of the infrastructure which would have been needed a decade ago – but buy better value trains and have the company who finance the new trains also pay for charging infrastructure in the Paragon station in Hull.
No need to wait and wait – let’s get Hull better electric trains, and save Great British Railways and taxpayers some significant money.
Henri Murison is the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.