Why I’m not fully onboard with Labour’s Northern Powerhouse Rail plans - Jayne Dowle

We’re told that work won’t start until at least 2030. The good news is that Yorkshire is prioritised in stage one. Stage two includes upgrades around Greater Manchester, including a new line from Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport and Liverpool. The final stage, not likely to be delivered until the 2040s, would see construction of a new railway between Bradford and Huddersfield.

However, who knows who might be in Downing Street by then. When political winds blow in a different direction, they’re likely to bring with them massive leaves on the line.

Former Conservative PM Boris Johnson and his Transport Secretary Grant Shapps signalled the end of the eastern leg of HS2 from Leeds to London in 2021 without a thought for those who believed in it.

Johnson’s successor Rishi Sunak blithely announced the axing of the north-western leg of HS2 in 2023, brutally scrapping the connection from Birmingham to Manchester.

Do we need any further reminders that despite any previous promises, grand plans for railways can so easily be shunted into the sidings?

As we’ve learned to our cost with HS2, major projects in the UK have a terrible habit of coming off the rails.

Massively watered down now, this hugely ambitious scheme to link the North of England with London is estimated to be costing £100bn, more than three times the original budget of £37.5bn announced back in 2009. And it will only run from Birmingham to London. Many have argued that what the North of England really needed anyway was better connectivity all-round, and that public money would be better spent on this than providing high-speed trains to the capital.

So that’s why, announcing the plans, Sir Keir Starmer sounded so pleased with himself. Reminding us that he “spent three happy years in Leeds as a university student” (always be wary when he gets personal), the Prime Minister promised that: “This government is rolling up its sleeves to deliver real, lasting change for millions of people through a major new rail network across the North that will deliver faster, more frequent services.”

Key words – “across the North”. It’s not just the fact that these new NPR plans will be stuck in a siding for four years or more, it’s the jarring omissions that raise questions.

Pleased as I am that Rotherham will eventually/hopefully receive a new station to support its remarkable regeneration plans, and that Bradford, a growing city of more than 500,000 people, will see rail access transformed, I have to say my own town of Barnsley has not even been mentioned.

Last summer, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council launched an ambitious new Rail Strategy setting out how it plans to improve train travel within and around the borough through to the 2030s.

This includes upgrading connections to major cities and economic centres, including Leeds, Manchester, and London, via high-speed and intercity rail networks.

Clearly, despite the two Barnsley MPs, Dan Jarvis and Stephanie Peacock serving in ministerial roles, as Minister of State for Security (Home Office) and Minister of State (Cabinet Office), and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport, Media, Civil Society, and Youth respectively, this pledge hasn’t even figured in the government’s plans.

I’ve long argued that at just 35 miles from Manchester, Barnsley commuters should be able to benefit from such proximity, and that surely a direct train service could be contrived. Leaving this possibility out of NPR is unforgivable really.

Likewise, if Barnsley is not to have direct trains to London – it did once, about 20 years ago if I recall - a direct train to Doncaster from Barnsley through the Dearne Valley would allow easy access to LNER intercity services. No mention of that either.

If we’re complaining in South Yorkshire, East Yorkshire has even more reason to be angry about NPR’s missed opportunity. Local leaders are rightly unhappy that Hull and East Yorkshire stations will not benefit from electrification or upgrades under current plans.

The government talks a good game about the importance of Northern cities in its ‘Northern Growth Strategy’ but perhaps ministers and Department of Transport civil servants need to look again at the map and pinpoint Hull, for a start.