SMART

[from the Guardian, Monday 24 July 2017]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/24/transport-secretary-backs-crossrail-2-plan

Chris Grayling’s support for rail line prompts claims government has abandoned ambitions to rebalance economy

The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has declared his support for Crossrail 2, alleviating fears in London that the project could be shelved but sparking anger outside the capital after he announced last week that rail electrification schemes would be cut elsewhere.

Grayling’s call for a fresh public consultation on Crossrail 2, a new commuter rail line running north-south across the capital, was greeted with relief by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who said the project was “essential for the future prosperity” of the capital. But outside the M25 there were claims that the government had abandoned ambitions to rebalance the

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said:

“It won’t escape people’s notice that this commitment to London today comes just days after the transport secretary cancelled electrification schemes all over the country. It raises the question of whether taxpayers everywhere else outside of London are paying to make Crossrail 2 viable.”

The Liverpool City region mayor, Steve Rotheram, said that while he did not “begrudge” the investment in London and the south-east, there needed to be balanced spending to “support growth in the north as well”.

A joint statement issued by Grayling and Khan said they agreed that

“there is no doubt London needs new infrastructure to support its growth and ensure it continues as the UK’s economic powerhouse”.

Crossrail 2 has been long regarded by Transport for London and business as a vital next step to ease congestion, but the project had been omitted from the Queen’s speech and Conservative manifesto.

Khan and Grayling, who have been at loggerheads over transport issues including the running of London’s rail services, met last week to discuss Crossrail 2, with its anticipated £31.2bn budget a cause for concern.

Revisions will “improve affordability while maximising the key benefits of the scheme”, possibly meaning planned stations will disappear from the route, as well as commit London to pay up to half of the construction costs, likely through higher business rates.

Grayling said:

“I am a supporter of Crossrail 2 but given its price tag we have to ensure that we get this right.”

He said he and Khan would develop plans

“so that the public gets an affordable scheme that is fair to the UK taxpayer.”

Khan said:

“Crossrail 2 is essential for the future prosperity of London and the south-east, so I’m pleased that the transport secretary and I have reached an agreement to take this vital project forward.”

A host of other rail upgrades around the UK, including electrification in south Wales and the Midlands to Sheffield and Nottingham, were cut last week, prompting fears that electrification of the trans-Pennine route between Leeds and Manchester will be the next to be scrapped.

The government has been loth to look as if it favoured London – although Khan produced research arguing that the capital receives less funding per transport passenger than the rest of the country, at around £7 per journey compared with more than £10 nationally.

However, a thinktank on Monday claimed that the north would have received £59bn more in investment over the last decade if it had received the same per person for infrastructure as London. IPPR North analysis said that the money would have been enough to fill a billion potholes or develop a new high-speed east-west crossing.

It said that public spending was on average £282 per head in the north compared with the national average of £345 per head, and an average £680 per head in London in the last decade – and that £1,900 per capita was due to be spent on transport investment from 2016/17 onward, £1,500 more than the north’s figure.

While Grayling and Khan pledged to “ensure a funding package which works for both London and the rest of the country and recognises other priorities”, news of the agreement intensified anger around the country.

On Saturday Burnham wrote to Grayling to accuse the transport minister of “a major broken promise to the people of Greater Manchester and the North, and the derailment of the Northern Powerhouse” if trans-pennine electrification did not go ahead.

Grayling said in Manchester on Friday that the trans-Pennine route was too complicated to fully electrify – a claim dismissed by industry experts as “just spin”. Roger Ford, industry and technology editor at Modern Railways, said:

“We’ve been electrifying existing lines since the 1960s. There is no problem.”

He said that the bi-mode trains vaunted by Grayling, running on diesel as well as electricity, were a “bodge”, designed for short distances, not whole routes.

“Now it is being seen as a long-term alternative to electrification.”

Cllr Keith Wakefield, transport chair of the West Yorkshire combined authority, said he was disappointed that a vastly improved trans-pennine route — often dubbed HS3 — looked set to be derailed.

“If the secretary of state is warming us up for bad news, this makes a mockery of the government’s ambitions to rebalance the economy of the country and once again government seem to be going short-sighted in the North,” he said.

The Department for Transport said plans to electrify the trans-Pennine route had not been scrapped. A spokesman said it was “committed to electrification where it delivers benefits, but will also take advantage of new technology to improve journeys.” An investment decision will be made next year.

Crossrail 2 and HS3 were named by the Infrastructure Commission as the most urgent projects of national importance to get under way. London transport authorities have warned that without Crossrail 2, Euston station will be unable to cope with the numbers of passengers alighting from HS2’s high-speed trains once the full network is in operation from 2033.

[from the Huffington Post, 31/07/2017]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/anger-north-south-transport-spending-divide-59-billion-a-decade_uk_597ec9ade4b0da64e87a2145

The government faces a backlash from angry northern commuters over transport spending

The Conservative Party is facing a growing backlash from angry northern commuters after it was revealed that the north of England has seen £59 billion less in transport spending compared to London over the last ten years.

Almost 35,000 people have signed a petition demanding more investment outside the capital amid a row over a North-South divide in government spending, with organisers claiming its success “lays bare the real anger in the north” about recent developments.

Last week, transport secretary Chris Grayling announced government support for a £30 billion Crossrail 2 scheme for London just days after axing or downgrading rail projects in Wales, the Midlands and the North, the Press Association reported.

Meanwhile, figures published by the Institute of Public Research (IPPR) North revealed that the area is “underfunded” by almost £6 billion a year compared to London.

Separate analysis claimed that the vast majority of Department for Transport staff work in the capital and the south east, leading to an “institutional bias” that “patronises” northern commuters.

Leaders in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle say Grayling had created “considerable uncertainty” and raised fears about the future of the Northern Powerhouse and the government’s aim of rebalancing the UK economy.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool city region mayor Steve Rotheram plan to convene a summit for northern political and business leaders in late August, before the return of Parliament.

IPPR director Ed Cox, who organised the petition, said the Department for Transport (DfT) “just isn’t listening” and called on the government to “deliver on its previous promises”.

“Its response has been to patronise northern commuters up-in-arms as mouthy troublemakers who need a good lecture on London’s special transport needs,” he said.

“The Government keeps saying that London businesses will pay half of Crossrail 2, but it’s being tin-eared on calls for the North to get these investment-raising powers too.

Cox added:

“Northern businesses would like to contribute but we need Transport for the North to get the powers TfL has to raise investment for essential infrastructure.”

But the DfT insisted money for the north is not being cut, despite the fact earlier pledges to electrify trans-Pennine rail lines to improve speed and capacity are now in doubt.

Instead, new “bi-mode” trains which run on diesel and electricity are planned. Critics say electric trains are faster, cleaner and greener.

A spokesperson for the DfT said in a statement:

“Building transport infrastructure has the potential to drive economic growth, create jobs and spread wealth across the country. That’s why we’re spending £57 billion on HS2, which will better connect Manchester and Leeds to the Midlands and London.

“It’s also why we’re committed to improving trans-Pennine services, and are working with Transport for the North to cut journey times and increase capacity between the major cities of the north.

“We are currently investing over £1 billion to improve rail infrastructure across the North of England, and major upgrades to the Manchester – Leeds – York route are being designed and developed.

“We are also investing £800 million on new road schemes in the North West, creating around 600 jobs – including upgrading the M62 to a four-lane smart motorway.”

They continued:

“In spending taxpayers’ money, it’s vital for the government to deliver value for the whole country.

“So while we have agreed to work further with Transport for London on Crossrail 2, we have also said that London needs to pay half of the upfront construction costs and we have not committed any public funding yet.”

[From The Observer, Sunday 30 July 2017]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/30/north-of-england-transport-investment-petition-chris-grayling-electrification

More than 29,000 people have signed a petition calling for more investment in transport in the north of England, after rail electrification plans across the country were scrapped.

Chris Grayling gave his backing last week to Crossrail 2, a £30bn railway that will tunnel under London, days after ditching a scheme to electrify some train lines in Wales, the Midlands and the north.

His suggestion that full electrification may be too complicated raised further doubts over the proposed modernisation of the TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, a project seen as critical to the “northern powerhouse”.

The petition, set up by the thinktank IPPR North and the campaign group 38 Degrees, calls on the transport secretary to give his immediate backing to HS3, a high-speed railway line from east to west across northern England, connecting Liverpool with Hull.

It also asks the government to make an immediate commitment to at least £59bn of “catch-up cash” for the north over the coming decade, and urges the Transport for the North body be given the same powers as Transport for London to raise private finance.

Ed Cox, the director of IPPR North, said the number of signatures laid bare “the real anger in the north” at recent announcements.

“The Department for Transport just isn’t listening,” he said. “Its response has been to patronise northern commuters up in arms as mouthy troublemakers who need a good lecture on London’s special transport needs.”

Announcing that plans to modernise the line from Cardiff to Swansea, the Midland mainline and tracks in the Lake District were being dropped, Grayling said passengers would no longer have to put up with “disruptive electrification works” and “intrusive wires and masts”.

He said new trains on those lines would be bi-mode – fitted with diesel engines so they can run on electrified and non-electrified sections of track.

Analysis from IPPR North suggests the north would have had £59bn more in public funding over the past decade if it had received the same amount per person for infrastructure as London.

It said public spending in the past 10 years was on average £282 per head in the north, compared with the national average of £345 per head, and £680 per head in London.

The Infrastructure Commission last month named Crossrail 2 and HS3 as the projects of the greatest national importance that urgently needed to get under way.