Northern Powerhouse Rail needs more urgency – Yorkshire Post Letters

IN its evidence to the National Infrastructure Commission, Transport for the North recognised that the 
trans-Pennine route upgrade represents the “largest intervention within the next five years”.

Your editorial (The Yorkshire Post, July 16) argued for more emphasis on rail investment in the next few years rather than putting too much store in the benefits of HS2, which will not be completed until 2040. There is a danger of further delay with the trans-Pennine route – which would be bad news for the north and for Huddersfield.

We fear that a prolonged debate to decide the future of Northern Powerhouse Rail
(NPR) on a new, yet to be determined, route through, or tunnelled under, the mainly urban area from Leeds to Manchester via Bradford, together with the task of co-ordinating plans with HS2, is likely to prolong the 
hold-up.

Time and effort spent considering the future plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail could seriously detract from the need to provide increased capacity 
and faster services for passenger and freight traffic between towns and cities across northern England, via the current railway route from York to Manchester through Huddersfield.

The electrification of this route will also significantly contribute to the decarbonisation targets for transport.

This is important if actions are to match words on tackling climate change. To fulfill its potential, the trans-Pennine route needs bold investment decisions to tackle the bottlenecks in Leeds and Manchester that currently affect the route’s whole performance and capacity.

Also, to enable through 
east-west container railway traffic on conventional wagons
to and from ports such as Liverpool and Immingham, would aid the switch from road to rail, thus making a further contribution to reducing harmful emissions.

From: Mick Lynch, Senior Assistant General Secretary, RMT union.

INVESTMENT to upgrade the railways in the North of England is welcome but long overdue (Grant Shapps, The Yorkshire Post, July 23). This investment should also not be a one-off but part of a national strategy for a mass investment in our railways to kick start a green recovery from coronavirus and to increase frequency, capacity, reliability and connectivity on both passenger and freight services.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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James Mitchinson