Boris Johnson U-turn on Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 urged by industry bosses

In a seven-page submission to the Transport Select Committee, which has launched an inquiry into the Government's controversial Integrated Rail Plan, the Railway Industry Association argues the Government "should continue examining the case for building the full HS2 Eastern Leg to Leeds and Northern Powerhouse Rail in full".

The intervention comes before the committee of MPs hold an evidence session on Wednesday, with new Transport for the North chairman Patrick McLoughlin - a former Conservative Transport Secretary - expected to lay out his opposition to the existing proposals.

The IRP, which was published in November, saw the route of the HS2 Eastern leg scaled back so it will now stop in the East Midlands rather than reaching Leeds as had been previously planned. Hopes of a full new Northern Powerhouse Rail high-speed line between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford were also dashed in favour of a cheaper route between Warrington and Marsden on the edge of Yorkshire.

The changes mean Yorkshire will receive just two miles of new high-speed track under the IRP.

The Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents more than 300 rail businesses, said the decision to scale back both NPR and HS2 despite previous Government promises to the contrary had been taken "with seemingly little engagement with the industry".

Its submission noted that the IRP is being described as a £96bn programme of investment, only £35bn can be described as new funding.

The RIA said that while the Government has claimed the IRP will deliver faster or similar journeys to the original HS2 and NPR proposals, "it is not clear whether detailed network and timetable modelling has been undertaken to validate the journey time and capacity claims".

It added: "There are concerns in the industry about whether the necessary paths can be made available on a mixed traffic (passenger and freight services) railway to deliver these benefits. To increase industry confidence, it is recommended that such modelling is released.

"If the journey times savings are correct, future rail services will see significant time-saving improvements compared to the current network. However, these improvements are still less that the speeds that would have been achieved under original plans for the full HS2 network and NPR. Out of the 28 journeys listed in the Plan, journey times would only be improved for five of these routes, they would remain similar four, and would be worsened for 19 routes, albeit only marginally for journeys from Manchester and Leeds."

The submission added: "Whilst the economic case for major railway upgrades remains strong, the IRP risks reducing the economic benefits the previous plans for HS2 and NPR in full would have brought. This is particularly the case for regions such as Yorkshire, which will not see the Eastern Leg built to Leeds.

"According to a poll of rail suppliers by RIA and the High Speed Rail Group (HSRG) in 2021, 80 per cent of rail SMEs would anticipate significant falls in revenue and almost half would cut staff, if full the scheme is not delivered."

Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the RIA, said: “Clearly the IRP is a significant and welcome investment in the North and Midlands’ railways, and the industry stands ready to deliver it. However, given the Government has rowed back on its commitment to HS2’s Eastern Leg and Northern Powerhouse Rail, how confident can the railway industry and individual rail businesses be that this new plan will be delivered in full?

“So RIA and our members now seek categorical assurances from the Government about when and how these projects will be built, so that rail businesses can invest in the necessary skills and medium to long term capabilities required to deliver them.

“We also call on the Government to announce its Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline urgently, given it has not been updated for over 800 days – this, despite a commitment to do so annually. Its immediate publication is more important than ever, given many IRP projects will be moving in to the RNEP.

“It is clear that if the Government wants to get the best bang for its buck from the rail supply sector, and deliver project upgrades for passengers and freight on time, it needs to provide visibility and certainty of upcoming work now. By doing this the railway industry will be able to play an even bigger part in supporting the Government to deliver sustainable jobs and economic growth in every region of the country.”

Justin Moss, Chair of RIA North, added: “Whilst the proposals in the Integrated Rail Plan will benefit passenger and freight services across the North of England, as well as support thousands of jobs both in our region and wider economy, we need to go further and faster to achieve the outputs. A commitment is therefore required from the Government that this plan will be delivered as a minimum.

“RIA North and our members want to see the detail on delivering this plan, so the supply chain can invest in the skills and capability we will need for the decades to come. We will continue working with the Government, Transport for the North and HS2 Ltd to support a clean, reliable railway for passengers in the North and across the UK.”

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