North on track for electric railways revolution

Sources at the Department for Transport (DfT) said yesterday that 75 per cent of all passenger journeys will be made on electric railways by the end of the five-year upgrade programme, cutting journey times and delays as well as operating costs and carbon emissions across the network.

Included in the huge programme of investment to be announced by Transport Secretary Justine Greening will be the widely-touted electrification of the entire Midland Mainline between Sheffield and the south of England, and the Northern Hub package of rail improvements stretching across the North.

Confirmation that the Northern Hub will be funded in full – first revealed in the Yorkshire Post last Saturday – represents another major success for the newspaper’s Give us a Fair Deal campaign, which has been fighting for more transport money for the region and targeted the hub as a key investment requirement.

Also included in today’s package will be an upgrade to the East Coast Main Line, offering faster and more reliable services to coincide with the arrival of the new intercity express trains being developed by Hitachi.

The package as a whole means rail passengers in Yorkshire will see journey times significantly reduced on services between towns and cities within the region, across the Pennines to Manchester and Liverpool and along routes to London, the Midlands and the south coast.

Last night Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the North was experiencing a “sea change” after years of underinvestment in its creaking railways.

“This is hugely significant,” the Sheffield Hallam MP said. “I said at the time we came into Government that we were dealing with not just a fiscal deficit, but also an infrastructure deficit as well.

“The creation of this electric spine connecting Sheffield with the South, when taken in with recent announcements about transport investments and the City Deals, will create thousands of job opportunities in Yorkshire.”

The investment in the Midland Mainline, Northern Hub and East Coast line represents a significant shift in DfT spending policy, which has long been centred on the South East of the country, and represent a personal victory for Rotherham-born Ms Greening who has battled to win Treasury agreement for her spending plans.

They follow a string of positive transport announcements for the region this year including confirmation of the £32bn high-speed rail link to London; preparatory work on the A63 Castle Street bottleneck in Hull; a £60m “tram train” pilot in Sheffield; and, earlier this month, the green light for a £250m electric trolleybus scheme for Leeds.

“The last Government neglected these areas and neglected the North,” Mr Clegg said. “When you put all these packages together this is the biggest investment in our transport infrastructure since the Victorians.”

Following the Transport Secretary’s formal announcement in Parliament this morning, technicians at Network Rail will begin drawing up detailed plans for the various line upgrades.

The package covers works for the period 2014-2019, though it is understood some of the work will continue into the next decade.

Jason McCartney, the Conservative MP for Colne Valley and vice-chairman of all-party Parliamentary group for rail in the North, said the Northern Hub package would make a huge difference to rail users across large parts of Yorkshire.

Network Rail estimates the project will provide capacity to run up to 700 more trains per day across the North.

“I’m delighted the Northern Hub is set to get the go-ahead,” Mr McCartney said. “I’ll now be campaigning to make sure these new services are affordable.”