Revamp on railways ‘would bring £12bn boost to UK economy’

The Yorkshire Rail Network Study has concluded that a broad package of improvement works to stations and lines around Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and the wider South Yorkshire area would deliver similar benefits to the national economy as the much-vaunted Northern Hub upgrade, parts of which have already been given the green light by Whitehall.

Regional transport bosses have submitted the plan to the Department for Transport (DfT) in an effort to influence Ministers ahead of crucial funding decisions this summer.

Their priority is to see the DfT give backing to the rest of the Northern Hub scheme – which centres around Manchester but is designed to deliver faster and more frequent services across the north of England – and then consider further improvement works across the Yorkshire region.

David Hoggarth, director of development at West Yorkshire transport body Metro, said: “If the Department for Transport fully funds the Northern Hub proposals, which includes electrification of the trans-Pennine route between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester, we will see journey times cut substantially.

“But we also need this clear investment plan to unlock the potential £12bn of economic benefits which could be achieved through improvements to the Yorkshire rail network.”

The new study does not detail the specific measures required, but assesses the economic benefits of improving journey times and providing longer and more frequent services between stations within Yorkshire. Metro and its counterpart in the south of the region, the South Yorkshire Transport Executive (SYPTE), want Network Rail to begin drawing up a package of measures similar to the Northern Hub scheme.

A key priority will be to improve

services between Sheffield and Leeds, which will not be helped by the Northern Hub project.

“It is important that Network Rail and the DfT work with us to identify value-for-money, fully-costed schemes to improve connectivity between the Leeds and Sheffield City regions in the next decade,” Mr Hoggarth said. ” This should include electrification of the Midland Main Line which, as well as improving journey times between Leeds, Sheffield and London, also opens up the possibility of high-speed HS2 trains to serve Yorkshire as soon as they begin running to Birmingham in 2026.”

SYPTE director of strategy Ben Still said it was also vital that services between Sheffield and Doncaster are upgraded, as the slow rail link between these two major urban centres currently provides a bottleneck and holds back economic growth across south Yorkshire.

“Demand for rail services has increased massively across Yorkshire in the last 15 years,” Mr Still said. “The network is now under severe strain. This study provides the evidence for where we need to invest to accommodate the further growth which is forecast for the next 20 to 30 years.

“The study reinforces the case for full delivery of the Northern Hub proposals, which will provide faster, more frequent and more reliable rail services between South Yorkshire and the Manchester region.

“It also shows that better services are badly needed between Leeds and Sheffield and between Doncaster and Sheffield, along with investment at both Sheffield and Doncaster stations to resolve capacity bottlenecks and enable more passengers to access the improved services.”

This summer will mark a critical point for the future of railways across Yorkshire and beyond, when the DfT announces which schemes are to be included in its next five-year works programme.

Pressure is mounting on the department to agree to fund the rest of the Northern Hub package in full, as well as additional measures for Yorkshire.

A DfT spokesman said yesterday it welcomed the new study and would consider further measures – but that it was important to recognise the extensive improvements in northern railways announced over the past 12 month.

“We welcome the work being undertaken on how rail services in Yorkshire could be improved in the future,” a statement said.

“The Government recognises that investment in the railways brings regional economic benefits; this is why we approved the electrification of the North trans-Pennine route between Manchester and York via Leeds and, in the March budget statement, approved a £130million package of investment which included increasing the capacity of the Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Sheffield and increasing line speeds on the Hope Valley line and on the Calder Valley Line between Manchester and Bradford. This will make a significant contribution to the economic well-being of the Yorkshire economy.

“We will consider further investment as part of the (package) published by the end of July 2012.”