Transpennine Route Upgrade and Electrification updates

[Starmill]

The one quoted. Very rarely do you get the Chief Exec of a Govt agency openly criticise the department that funds it. Usually it’s called a ‘resignation speech’.

Ministers have it seems been briefing against them. It appears that they feel aggrieved. I probably would too if my organisation were set up without powers or permemence of budget and then Number 10 called us a 'talking shop' that doesn't deliver any enhancements. Delivery isn't the role they're constituted for. But I guess you already know all this.

 

[DJ_K666]

How could Woodhead be re-opened given that National Grid have their cables in the 1950's tunnel?

I'm fairly sure I read that a condition of allowing the cables in the tunnel was that they were able to be removed, unless the national grid have pulled a fast one.That says to me that the government of the day were aware of the need to keep the tunnel in good nick. That said at the moment reopening could be considered Crayonism but they did say that about a lot of schemes that have gone on to be successful so never say never, just say very expensive and ball-achy.

 

[Mikey C]

The one quoted. Very rarely do you get the Chief Exec of a Govt agency openly criticise the department that funds it. Usually it’s called a ‘resignation speech’.

I was more distracted by the name of the Chief Exec...Barry White

"Hey baby, have I got a laaat of infrastructure upgrades for you"

 

[nr758123]

The one quoted. Very rarely do you get the Chief Exec of a Govt agency openly criticise the department that funds it. Usually it’s called a ‘resignation speech’.

So do you think Prime Minister Dominic Cummings will be demanding his resignation?

 

[InOban]

The last thing civil servants ever want to do is to surrender real power, ie money, to any body they can't control. They are convinced that the yokels in the 'provinces' will waste it. In fact we know that wasting money is what central government does.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I guess after 5 years or so of edging towards devolved rail transport in England, HMG has to decide whether to allow the locals to have real power.
TfN seem very frustrated with their current role and lack of powers/budget to act.
However, the economic situation is hardly stable, particularly on the railway, and there is no blueprint for the future - yet.
No 10, the Treasury and the DfT have never had any trust in either the local authority quango bodies or for that matter the railway itself.
Maybe we will get something for TP like the East-West Rail project - firmly under DfT control but with local input and advice.
TfN is more likely to get control over services and operation, perhaps, in a franchise revision.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

The one quoted. Very rarely do you get the Chief Exec of a Govt agency openly criticize the department that funds it. Usually it’s called a ‘resignation speech’.

Agreed - if enough people get angry and p---d off stuff might actually happen this time.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

What I don't understand is why an announcement is coming Thursday. Surely it makes the most political capital if it is announced while parliament is in session?

 

[Class 170101]

The one quoted. Very rarely do you get the Chief Exec of a Govt agency openly criticise the department that funds it. Usually it’s called a ‘resignation speech’.

Or perhaps a speech before TfN's abolition?

 

[CdBrux]

Or perhaps a speech before TfN's abolition?

Mr White seems to make quite a reasonable case for his organisations abolition, or at the very least significant reform. If the Secretary of State is going to be held accountable for swift decision making then they need not to have a body in the way that takes an age negotiating with itself before making a recommendation

 

[WatcherZero]

All they are set up to do is being a local forum, co-ordinate local transport strategies (metros, local roads, commuter rail) with regional ones (intercity rail, strategic highways, rail freight, ports and airports) and fund transport studies.

They have no executive power over infrastructure, no capital budget. The only money they receive is operating costs and feasibility studies.

They have achieved what they were set up to do, create a regional plan, but now they haven't been given any resources to move towards implementation. Devolution stalled.

 

[si404]

whatever happened to the idea a press release should be short and snappy?

When instead of being something to pique journalists interest, they became something that 'journalists' just regurgitate.

 

[YorksLad12]

Whilst I approve of any rail body giving the DfT a pummelling, whatever happened to the idea a press release should be short and snappy?

As a writer of releases, they should be informative and get the point across. Once it hits your own website, however, it usually gets rewritten to be a story.

I guess after 5 years or so of edging towards devolved rail transport in England, HMG has to decide whether to allow the locals to have real power.
TfN seem very frustrated with their current role and lack of powers/budget to act.
However, the economic situation is hardly stable, particularly on the railway, and there is no blueprint for the future - yet.
No 10, the Treasury and the DfT have never had any trust in either the local authority quango bodies or for that matter the railway itself.
Maybe we will get something for TP like the East-West Rail project - firmly under DfT control but with local input and advice.
TfN is more likely to get control over services and operation, perhaps, in a franchise revision.

TfN took over Rail North Ltd. (which came first), which co-specified and ran the Northern & TPE franchises through the Rail North Partnership (50% Rail North, 50% DfT at the time I left that project). I've written elsewhere about local politicians later complaining about aspects of the franchises (such as DOO/DCO) they actually signed off on! The 'direction of travel' was that there should be more devolved responsibiity for future franchises, not less. The question is, will there be any franchises in the future for them to have greater control over?

 

[si404]

The question is, will there be any franchises in the future for them to have greater control over?

part of the changing from franchises is due to the direction of travel towards devolved transport bodies that can grant concessions (as happens with some buses, Merseyrail, Overground, TfL Rail, DLR, etc).

 

[Class 170101]

Yorkshire Post Thursday 23 July

'Start of Northern Powerhouse Rail work is years, not decades away', says Transport for the North director Tim Wood

A senior official on the flagship Northern Powerhouse Rail project has insisted he expects work to start on the scheme within five years as he dismissed suggestions it was "decades away" from being built.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

'Start of Northern Powerhouse Rail work is years, not decades away', says Transport for the North director Tim Wood

A senior official on the flagship Northern Powerhouse Rail project has insisted he expects work to start on the scheme within five years as he dismissed suggestions it was "decades away" from being built.

Will also apparently be funding of £680m announced tomorrow - though that doesn't sound like a lot. Hope this is a drop in the ocean and more is forthcoming.

 

[MidlandMainlie]

Philip Haigh reporting that DfT is giving £589m for partial electrification, new though platform at Huddersfield and 8 miles of 4 tracking. DfT considering full electrification, more multi-tracking, fright capacity and digital signalling in a report due in December.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

That does no more than deliver Network Rail's current plans (Church Fenton and Leeds-Huddersfield upgrades, and maybe Miles Platting realignment).
Looks like the larger project is still in planning, and will have to wait for Rishi Sunak's spending review to complete later this year for a decision.
This is the DfT announcement:

£589 million to kickstart rail upgrades across the north

Investment announced alongside establishment of a new Northern Transport Acceleration Council.

www.gov.uk

To kickstart work on the Transpennine main line between Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester, £589 million has been confirmed today (23 July 2020) by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. The establishment of a new Northern Transport Acceleration Council dedicated to accelerating vital infrastructure projects and better connecting communities across the North’s towns and cities has also been announced.

The most congested section of the route will be doubled from 2 to 4 tracks, allowing fast trains to overtake slower ones, improving journey times and reliability for passengers across the North. Most of the line will be electrified, and our ambition is to go further. Full electrification, digital signalling, more multi-tracking and improved freight capacity are now under consideration as part of an ‘Integrated Rail Plan’ due to report in December.

This is also the first electrification approval since Grayling paused/cancelled everything in 2017.

 

[quantinghome]

So basically the planned Huddersfield-Dewsbury upgrade has received funding approval. Good news but nothing new is it?

 

[Bald Rick]

So basically the planned Huddersfield-Dewsbury upgrade has received funding approval. Good news but nothing new is it?

Well it’s new funding; Government didn’t have to provide it. I’d also say the announcement that full electrification is under consideration is news.

 

[a_c_skinner]

Railways really are terrific value for money. If the product is votes. Every few years you can fund a study/report/business case and so on. The cost of these is a figure that seems huge so electors like it. Then you can shelve it and wait. Then you do it again (out in December apparently) and wrap up the announcement with a re-announcement of something that was basically approved before - like the four tracking in West Yorkshire. Meanwhile the (off topic) low cost, big win Blythe and Tyne languishes and the really key problem in the NW, Castlefields corridor, is filed under too few votes in it for the cost.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Railways really are terrific value for money. If the product is votes. Every few years you can fund a study/report/business case and so on. The cost of these is a figure that seems huge so electors like it. Then you can shelve it and wait. Then you do it again (out in December apparently) and wrap up the announcement with a re-announcement of something that was basically approved before - like the four tracking in West Yorkshire. Meanwhile the (off topic) low cost, big win Blythe and Tyne languishes and the really key problem in the NW, Castlefields corridor, is filed under too few votes in it for the cost.

To be fair, the DfT released funding for more Castlefield studies recently.
The ECML ETCS funding also includes a planning element for TP routes.
Not shovel ready, mind.

 

[Brissle Girl]

To be fair, the DfT released funding for more Castlefield studies recently.

Just a reminder of the history here. NR spent a lot of money on a formal application, enquiry etc, presumably with some sort of sanction from the government. Which then decided not to approve it, but instead of saying no (because of the uproar there would have been) just sat on it for the last three years. To deflect those asking when a decision was made they asked for a quick review from NR of alternative solutions which apparently (although I don't think the report was ever published for obvious reasons) concluded that there was no alternative. So that was buried.

They have now authorised spending of £10m on another review, which will delay things by another couple of years no doubt.

If that's an accurate representation of the history of the project, I'm not inclined to be fair to the government at all. It's a shambles.

 

[edwin_m]

Just a reminder of the history here. NR spent a lot of money on a formal application, enquiry etc, presumably with some sort of sanction from the government. Which then decided not to approve it, but instead of saying no (because of the uproar there would have been) just sat on it for the last three years. To deflect those asking when a decision was made they asked for a quick review from NR of alternative solutions which apparently (although I don't think the report was ever published for obvious reasons) concluded that there was no alternative. So that was buried.

They have now authorised spending of £10m on another review, which will delay things by another couple of years no doubt.

If that's an accurate representation of the history of the project, I'm not inclined to be fair to the government at all. It's a shambles.

Someone worked out that Chris Grayling had cost the country over £2bn in implementing failed policies. If the cost of the wasted work wasn't included in that figure then it should have been.

 

[yorksrob]

I heard an announcement on the Radio 2 news just now which specifically mentioned trans-pennine electrification.

To be honest, I was a bit alarmed when it didn't appear in the Chancellor's big post COVID announcement last week, so it's good to hear it reiterated.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

I'm not inclined to be fair to the government at all. It's a shambles.

*Nods in agreement*

 

[Jamesrob637]

I was more distracted by the name of the Chief Exec...Barry White

"Hey baby, have I got a laaat of infrastructure upgrades for you"

He's their first, their last, their everything didn't you know

 

[Jamesrob637]

Miles Platting has been cleared next to the Alan Turing Way - preparation for track realignment?

 

[Greybeard33]

It seems to me that the funding part of this announcement (which does not even confirm full electrification) is really intended as a smokescreen. The key message is a reversal of transport devolution and reassertion of central government control by the DfT and Treasury. Transport for the North is effectively sidelined instead of getting the additional devolved powers it has been demanding, while the new "Northern Transport Acceleration Council" will be chaired by Grant Shapps himself.

It appears that the DfT has cleverly "bought off" the troublesome metro mayors by giving them a direct line to the SoS through the new body.

The DfT announcement linked in #2987 says that:

The council launched today will ensure northern leaders have a direct line to ministers and has been formed with the desire to cut bureaucracy and red tape so passengers can get the modern, reliable transport network they deserve as quickly as possible.

The new body will in fact introduce more bureaucracy, so any cuts will have to fall on TfN and its Rail North Committee.

 

[2L70]

Makes sense to invest for when the main passenger operator becomes OLR/Nationalised.

 

[a_c_skinner]

To be fair, the DfT released funding for more Castlefield studies recently.

That is exactly my point. Nugatory spending on "studies" going nowhere is staggeringly good value in pounds per vote.