Publication of Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands

[Roast Veg]

This picture shows the scope of the IRP, showing a selection of non-London journey times. Taken from page 33 of the published IRP.

 

[The Planner]

So I guess it's going to be repurposing of the Ditton Jn-Warrington BQ LL line, but then what is it to be east of that, as the line stops there? The trackbed runs to Altrincham but that'd be a long way round...

Likely a new link from there to where the Golborne/Manchester junction is.

 

[paok]

THe IRP is now here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-rail-plan-for-the-north-and-the-midlands

Here's the DfT synopsis page: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...frequent-and-more-reliable-journeys-across-no

Integrated Rail Plan: biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network will deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys across North and Midlands​

Major rail investment to transform services in the North and Midlands.
From:Department for Transport, High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, and The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MPPublished18 November 2021

• the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) will see the biggest ever government investment in Britain’s rail network, with a £96 billion package of rail construction and upgrades for the Midlands and the North
• plan delivers a modern network that will benefit passengers far sooner than previously planned, with many improvements expected this decade – levelling up more quickly
• building 3 new high-speed lines, the IRP will transform rail services – boosting inter-city connections

The biggest ever public investment in Britain’s rail network is announced by the government today (18 November 2021), with £96 billion to deliver faster and better journeys to more people across the North and the Midlands, similar to or more quickly than under earlier plans.
Transforming connectivity, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) published today will transform both east to west and north to south links, building 3 new high-speed lines, improving rail services to and between the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West including:

• Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) will connect Leeds and Manchester in 33 minutes, down from 55 minutes now
• HS2 East will run direct from central Nottingham to Birmingham in 26 minutes, down from 1 hour 14 minutes now, and from central Nottingham to London in 57 minutes. HS2 will also run from London to Sheffield in 1 hour 27 minutes
• HS2 West will run from London to Manchester in 1 hour 11 minutes and from Birmingham to Manchester in 41 to 51 minutes compared to 86 minutes today.

To most destinations on the HS2 and NPR core routes, both from London and across the Pennines, journey times will be the same as, similar to or faster than the previous proposals – with improvements being delivered for communities across the Midlands and North up to a decade sooner and to more places. Capacity on key routes will also double or treble under plans.
Under earlier plans, smaller towns on existing main lines such as Doncaster, Grantham, Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Leicester would have seen little improvement, and in some cases even their services cut back. The IRP will protect and improve these crucial links and will deliver improvements with far less disruption to local communities. And on both local train lines and inter-city links, rail passengers will benefit from tangible changes, seeing more seats, shorter journeys, and more frequent and more reliable services.
As well as the new high-speed lines, the IRP fully electrifies and upgrades 2 diesel main lines – the Midlands Main Line and the Transpennine Main Line – as well as upgrading a third main line – the East Coast – with higher speeds, power improvements and digital signalling to slash journey times.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

My mission is to level up opportunity across our country, which is why we’re making train journeys faster and more reliable through the biggest ever public investment in our rail network.
This is because better rail connections are essential for growing local economies and businesses, and our Integrated Rail Plan will deliver better services to more people, more quickly.
Levelling up has to be for everyone, not just the biggest cities. That’s why we will transform transport links between our biggest cities and smaller towns, ensuring we improve both long-distance and vital local services and enabling people to move more freely across the country wherever they are.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

Our plan is ambitious, deliverable and backed by the largest single government investment ever made in our rail network. It will deliver punctual, frequent and reliable journeys for everyone, wherever they live.
Just as the Victorians gave this country our railways nearly 200 years ago, this Integrated Rail Plan will create a modern, expanded railway fit for today and future generations. Significant improvements will be delivered rapidly, bringing communities closer together, creating jobs and making places more attractive to business, and in doing so, rebalancing opportunity across the country.
Our plans go above and beyond the initial ambitions of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail by delivering benefits for communities no matter their size, right across the North and Midlands, up to 10 to 15 years earlier.

For NPR, we have chosen the first of the options put forward by Transport for the North (TfN) in 2019, a mixture of newbuild high-speed and upgraded conventional line. TfN’s options for full newbuild high-speed line were carefully studied but would have made journeys between Leeds and Manchester only 4 minutes faster at a cost of an extra £18 billion, and taken up to a decade longer to deliver.
The package of investment confirms:

Three new high-speed lines, covering 110 miles:​

• Complete HS2 from Crewe to Manchester, with new stations at Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly
• a new high-speed line between Birmingham and East Midlands Parkway. Trains will continue to central Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield on an upgraded and electrified Midland Main Line
• delivering NPR through a new high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and Marsden in Yorkshire as in the first of the options originally put forward by TfN in 2019.
• a study to look at the best way to take HS2 trains to Leeds, including capacity at Leeds Station.

The upgrading or electrification of 3 existing lines:​

• the complete electrification of the Midland Main Line from London to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.
• a programme of rapid upgrades to the East Coast Main Line to the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East. Journey times will be up to 25 minutes faster than now
• full electrification and upgrade of the Transpennine Main Line between Manchester, Leeds and York as part of delivering the first phase of NPR, installing full digital signalling, with longer sections of three- and four-tracking to allow fast trains to overtake stopping services, and increase through passenger services by 20%. An additional £625 million in new funding has been confirmed today to progress the Transpennine Route Upgrade
• in total, electrification of more than 180 miles of route, meaning that 75% of the country’s main lines will be electric, to meet the ambition of removing all diesel-only trains from the network by 2040, as part of our commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.

The freeing up of money to improve local services and integrate them properly with HS2 and NPR:​

• a new mass transit system for Leeds and West Yorkshire, righting the wrong that Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without one. There will be £200 million of immediate funding to plan the project and start building it, and we commit to supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority over the long term to ensure that this time, it gets done
• separately, we could halve journey times between Bradford and Leeds, to be as low as 12 minutes
• greater connectivity benefits between the West and East Midlands in comparison to previous plan and progressing work on options to complete Midlands Rail Hub, dramatically increasing local services through central Birmingham and across the Midlands and connecting them better to HS2
• investment to deliver a programme of fares, ticketing and retail reform including the roll out of contactless pay-as-you-go ticketing at commuter stations in the Midlands and North, ending ticket queues and tackling confusion about fares by automatically ensuring that you are charged the best price. The government will also drive towards rolling out digital ticketing across the whole network

The new plans, using a mixture of new-build high-speed line and upgraded conventional lines, were drawn up after it became clear that the full HS2 and NPR schemes as originally proposed would have cost up to £185 billion and not entered service until the early to mid-2040s.
Building on the expert findings of wide-ranging internal and independent analysis, including from the National Infrastructure Commission, the plan will deliver better outcomes for passengers in a faster and more efficient way than under original plans for the schemes.

 

[Laketop]

We will fully electrify and upgrade the Midland Main Line between London St Pancras, the East Midlands and Sheffield.

We will speed up, and decarbonise, services to benefit the whole of the East Midlands, including Leicester, Loughborough, Derby and Nottingham, which would have seen little improvement in city-centre journey times to London under the previous plans for HS2.

- The report

With that, the HS2 trains would be able to get into central Nottingham and Derby.

 

[55002]

Looks like the midland line will be electrified to Sheffield reading that actual document

 

[21C101]

From the map @Roast Veg posted, looks like Clayton to Leeds is "Perhaps" ie further development being studied.

 

[Howardh]

Has Manchester to Sheffield > Nottingham been mentioned??

 

[daveu101]

I thought electrification of Leeds to Huddersfield is already authorised and underway?

 

[kilosandlitres]

Is the South West coming in a different announcement?

 

[55002]

Also on ECML remove bottlenecks..can’t see how they do that at Welwyn, and does say in there remove flat crossings so that means change at Newark

 

[Dan G]

This picture shows the scope of the IRP, showing a selection of non-London journey times. Taken from page 33 of the published IRP.

This seems a much bigger announcement than I was expecting. Very promising -- if they actually build it...

 

[Roast Veg]

From the map @Roast Veg posted, looks like Clayton to Leeds is "Perhaps" ie further development being studied.

Not featured at all. Rather, the line north from Sheffield to Moorthorpe isn't even getting electrification in the first instance. Quite disappointing.

I thought electrification of Leeds to Huddersfield is already authorised and underway?

It is, as part of TRU.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I heard that, so not electrified after Marsden so a hybrid unit changes to diesel and goes at today's speeds towards Leeds? So Manchester to Huddersfield/Leeds would save, what, 5 mins if it's an electrified new line to Marsden?
I'd like to see a map...

No, the TP route will be fully electrified (as will the MML to Leeds).

 

[Roast Veg]

Toton is still to receive a station for local and regional services - a surprise, given that the Erewash Valley is not to be expanded under the IRP.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

It looks like the MML/HS2 through route to Sheffield will be via Derby, rather than via Toton: "completing electrification of the Midland Main Line (already being electrified to Market Harborough) to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield via Derby". The maps concur.

 

[Mikey C]

At the risk of being slaughtered here, a lot of this proposal makes sense. Yes losing the full eastern arm of HS2 is a shame, but for Derby and Nottingham this is much better, the previous Toton HS2 station scheme to me was of no use to either city, when people want direct trains to their City, not somewhere 10 miles away

Of course it was crazy that the whole of the MML hasn't already been electrified, but at least it will happen now.

 

[ohgoditsjames]

Sheffield to London in 87 mins, how will they manage that?

 

[HSTEd]

So we can have a catastrophically botched East Coast Route Modernisation to go with the WCRM and GWRM.


They never learn

 

[Hophead]

The DfT press release says "separately, we could halve journey times between Bradford and Leeds, to be as low as 12 minutes". I'd say that "could" is of more importance there than "12 minutes".

 

[achmelvic]

Shapps: 'Manchester is a primary beneficiary', says it all from a Yorkshire perspective.

Distinct lack of new lines in Yorkshire with NPR new line stopping as soon as it surfaces at Marsden and nothing in South Yorkshire beyond upgrades

 

[The Planner]

Sheffield to London in 87 mins, how will they manage that?

Sheffield to East Mids is currently about 40 minutes, Euston to Toton is down as 52. Need to find 5 minutes. Take out a Chesterfield stop and you are near enough there.

 

[Roast Veg]

A surprise to me (but not to one particular poster, who said it all along!) is Birmingham to Leeds via NPR. I did not think that would be the preferred option.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Shapps: 'Manchester is a primary beneficiary', says it all from a Yorkshire perspective.

Distinct lack of new lines in Yorkshire with NPR new line stopping as soon as it surfaces at Marsden and nothing in South Yorkshire beyond upgrades

Levelling up, innit

 

[MontyP]

How would they shave 20 mins off London-Leeds via ECML? What scale of work would need to be done? As per previous discussions, large sections of 140mph running would only take 6 mins off the journey time to York, so what else would be required?

 

[A0wen]

Apparently down to the wire last night. Sunak and Treasury still seeking cuts to investment.

Usual UK attitude. Long term pain due to short term thinking.

Levelling up in effect means cutting London investment to low levels elsewhere rather than lift elsewhere to London levels. All suffer.

Can't be like other nations and have various areas see needed investment can we?

Still, many will play the gov game of North v South rather than ensuring all regions see investment.

BIB Oh please - not this tinfoil hat nonsense *again* - major investments take years to realise, see France's high speed network or Berlin's new airport. The problem with such long term deliverables is the world changes whilst you're delivering them, so what may be right now, may not be when it's complete in 20 years time, hence you have to take a more nuanced view of things.

And where's the evidence that in Britain we're any worse at delivering major projects than anywhere else in the world? Because I always struggle to find the evidence to support that hypothesis.

 

[QSK19]

As for whole-MML electrification, they have presumably come up with a solution to deal with the low bridge at Leicester station?

And do you think this would delay the 810s coming into service in order for them to become straight EMUs from the word go? The 222s and 180s are around or just over halfway through their lives; so maybe those would be eeked out for a few more years. Or would the 810s still come into service initially as BMUs and then modified to become straight EMUs later on?

As a Loughborough-based rail user, I can’t help but suspect that they’ll renege on electrifying the Market Harborough-EMP part of the MML given that it’s a small stretch and the difficulty of dealing with the bridge at Leicester station. Maybe I’m being pessimistic; but I can’t help but remember failing Grayling...

 

[tonysk14]

Is there proposed route for this Warrington - Marsden new line.

 

[Gareth]

The whole thing is comical.

 

[swt_passenger]

Is the South West coming in a different announcement?

Er, no.

 

[brad465]

Here's the BBC report just emerging, which confirms the HS2 eastern leg cut:

HS2 rail extension to Leeds scrapped amid promise to transform rail

Boris Johnson dismisses criticism that his rail overhaul amounts to broken promises as "total rubbish".

www.bbc.co.uk

The government has scrapped part of the HS2 high speed rail line as part of a package that ministers promise will transform services.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told the Commons the overhaul will bring faster journeys up to 10 years earlier than planned.
He said it showed the government was acting on its levelling up agenda.
But Mr Shapps faces criticism he is watering down promises, although anti-HS2 campaigners welcomed the news.
HS2 was originally planned to connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. But HS2 between the East Midlands and Leeds will now be scrapped.
Delivering his Integrated Transport Plan (ITP), Mr Shapps told MPs it was an "ambitious and unparalleled programme" to overhaul inter-city links across the north and Midlands, and "speed up the benefits for local areas and serves destinations people most want to reach".
Work has already started on the first phase of HS2 , linking London and the West Midlands. The next section will extend the line to Crewe.
The final phase was to take HS2 to Manchester and Leeds.
Mr Shapps said on Thursday: "This new blueprint delivers three high-speed lines. First, that's Crewe to Manchester.
"Second, Birmingham to the East Midlands with HS2 trains continuing to central Nottingham and central Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield on an upgraded mainline.
"And third, a brand new high-speed line from Warrington to Manchester and to the western border of Yorkshire - slashing journey times across the north."