[From The Observer, Sunday 30 July 2017]<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2017\/jul\/30\/north-of-england-transport-investment-petition-chris-grayling-electrification<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Chris Grayling gave his backing last week to Crossrail 2, a\u00a0\u00a330bn railway\u00a0that will tunnel under London, days after ditching a scheme to electrify some train lines in Wales, the Midlands and the north.<\/p>\n His suggestion that full electrification may be too complicated raised further doubts over the\u00a0proposed modernisation\u00a0of the TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, a project seen as critical to the\u00a0\u201cnorthern powerhouse\u201d.<\/p>\n 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\u00a0east to west\u00a0across northern England, connecting Liverpool with Hull.<\/p>\n It also asks the government to make an immediate commitment to at least \u00a359bn of \u201ccatch-up cash\u201d for the north over the coming decade, and urges the\u00a0Transport for the North\u00a0body be given the same powers as Transport for London to raise private finance.<\/p>\n Ed Cox, the director of IPPR North, said the number of signatures laid bare \u201cthe real anger in the north\u201d at recent announcements.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Department for\u00a0Transport\u00a0just isn\u2019t listening,\u201d he said. \u201cIts response has been to patronise northern commuters up in arms as mouthy troublemakers who need a good lecture on London\u2019s special transport needs.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Announcing that\u00a0<\/em>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 \u201cdisruptive electrification works\u201d and \u201cintrusive wires and masts\u201d.<\/p>\n He said new trains on those lines would be bi-mode \u2013 fitted with diesel engines so they can run on electrified and non-electrified sections of track.<\/p>\n Analysis from IPPR North suggests the north would have had \u00a359bn more in public funding over the past decade if it had received the same amount per person for infrastructure as London.<\/p>\n It said public spending in the past 10 years was on average \u00a3282 per head in the north, compared with the national average of \u00a3345 per head, and \u00a3680 per head in London.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [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 … Continue reading