The Government is making a mistake sidelining Northern Powerhouse Rail - Yorkshire Post Letters

The former Chancellor, George Osborne, is reported (YP 10 June 2023) to have urged the Government to reinstate its commitment on rail. Northern Powerhouse Rail and Levelling Up. This includes Northern Powerhouse Rail, a new east to west high-speed trans-Pennine rail line with a stop in Bradford.

Unfortunately the present Tory Government shows no sign of reinstating its original commitment. George Osborne emphasised the importance of such long term infrastructure projects to the Government’s levelling up policy.

He went on to say there was “a mistaken focus on quick wins” such as the idea of “let’s tart up the town centre” or “let’s plant some new flowers on the roundabout in the middle of town”.

George Osborne rightly, in my view, claims “new infrastructure opens up all sorts of economic activities that couldn’t be imagined at the time”.

We only have to look back to the early days of the railways in Britain and then across Europe, America and Asia to see how instrumental railways were in terms of economic growth and social change.

There’s no doubt Bradford is in need of levelling up. A stop on the Northern Powerhouse Rail line would make a major contribution to the economic growth of the City and district of Bradford. But the Government has recently pulled back from this commitment. Whether Northern Powerhouse Rail serves Bradford or not there is another rail improvement which is also long overdue and that is a Cross Bradford heavy rail link between Bradford Interchange and Forster Square.

I appreciate the building of the Broadway Shopping Centre on the route of the link presents a challenge but this is not insurmountable. Take the Elizabeth Line in London, it goes through Canary Wharf and other parts of the heavily built up areas of Central London.

If a 73 mile cross London rail line can be afforded and delivered then a rail link between the two Bradford stations which are less than a mile apart should be affordable and deliverable. It could be constructed much earlier than the timescale for Northern Powerhouse Rail.