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| Northern powercut: has the Tories' rail revamp reached the end of the line? | Northern powercut: has the Tories' rail revamp reached the end of the line? |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The week after the Conservatives won the general election in May, George Osborne made a big play of coming to Manchester to give his first speech of his second term, the heart of his pet northern powerhouse project. | The week after the Conservatives won the general election in May, George Osborne made a big play of coming to Manchester to give his first speech of his second term, the heart of his pet northern powerhouse project. |
| Promising a “revolution in the way we govern England”, the chancellor reiterated his ambition to close the decades-old economic gap between north and south by, among other things, making a record investment in northern transport projects. The Tory election manifesto had already promised to electrify the main northern routes as part of a £13bn masterplan to modernise the region’s transport. | |
| As far as all the key players in the north of England were concerned, that plan was entirely on track. Just on Wednesday, there was a meeting of Transport for the North board, a body set up last year to develop pan-northern connections to forge a single northern English economic area. | As far as all the key players in the north of England were concerned, that plan was entirely on track. Just on Wednesday, there was a meeting of Transport for the North board, a body set up last year to develop pan-northern connections to forge a single northern English economic area. |
| “As far as we knew, it was all going ahead,” said Keith Wakefield, who was until May the Labour leader of Leeds city council and a current board member of Transport for the North. | |
| Then on Thursday, he suddenly started getting calls about an announcement from the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, of a “pause” on key electrification projects on the important TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, as well as the Midland mainline from London to Sheffield. The north was losing out to the south, once again, with McLoughlin declaring the electrification of the Great Western line from London to Bristol “a top priority”. | Then on Thursday, he suddenly started getting calls about an announcement from the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, of a “pause” on key electrification projects on the important TransPennine route between Manchester and Leeds, as well as the Midland mainline from London to Sheffield. The north was losing out to the south, once again, with McLoughlin declaring the electrification of the Great Western line from London to Bristol “a top priority”. |
| Furious at being caught on the hop, Wakefield said the announcement exposed the Tories’ “northern powerhouse” concept as empty rhetoric. | Furious at being caught on the hop, Wakefield said the announcement exposed the Tories’ “northern powerhouse” concept as empty rhetoric. |
| Meanwhile, the minister for the northern powerhouse, James Wharton - who held onto his marginal Stockton South seat in the general election - was keeping schtum, referring media requests to the department for transport and ignoring tweets about what it all meant for his ministerial empire. | |
| Related: Rail upgrades shelved and Network Rail boss replaced amid spiralling costs | Related: Rail upgrades shelved and Network Rail boss replaced amid spiralling costs |
| Wakefield was not impressed with the whole fandango: “It’s extremely disappointing and a big blow to the ambitions of building a northern powerhouse. Everyone agrees that what we need in the north is better connectivity across the Pennines. You can’t hope to rebalance the economy without the north getting the investment it needs. Feasibility studies have shown that electrifying that one route would create 7,000 new jobs. | |
| “What really makes me angry is how £30bn was given to London for Crossrail without a flicker or murmur of protest, but when it comes to northern transport projects you get people saying ‘oh is it really worth it?’ | |
| “I understand of course that London is the capital, but if you look at the imbalance in spending across the country it’s completely unfair. Something like 86% of all transport infrastructure spending is in London and the south-east while the rest of us are fighting over the crumbs. | |
| “To suddenly stop the electrification exposes the whole northern powerhouse as empty rhetoric.” | “To suddenly stop the electrification exposes the whole northern powerhouse as empty rhetoric.” |
| Julie Dore, leader of Sheffield’s Labour-run council, soon piled in to demand the decision be reversed “immediately”. | |
| Ed Cox, the director of the IPPR North thinktank, described the announcement as a “major setback to the Northern powerhouse”. | Ed Cox, the director of the IPPR North thinktank, described the announcement as a “major setback to the Northern powerhouse”. |
| He said: “Transport connections and infrastructure must be the foundation on which a prosperous northern economy is built. The north already loses out substantially when it comes to public investment in its dated, poorly integrated and underfunded transport network. Now it will see projects already too far back in the queue fall further behind, which will hamper the area’s ability to grow and compete.” | He said: “Transport connections and infrastructure must be the foundation on which a prosperous northern economy is built. The north already loses out substantially when it comes to public investment in its dated, poorly integrated and underfunded transport network. Now it will see projects already too far back in the queue fall further behind, which will hamper the area’s ability to grow and compete.” |
| But is McLoughlin’s pause permanent? His statement to parliament was unclear. He made no promises about the Midlands mainline, but said the government needed to be “much more ambitious” about the TransPennine service. A “fast, high capacity TransPennine electric route” would be built, he suggested, as part of the “powerhouse for the north”. | But is McLoughlin’s pause permanent? His statement to parliament was unclear. He made no promises about the Midlands mainline, but said the government needed to be “much more ambitious” about the TransPennine service. A “fast, high capacity TransPennine electric route” would be built, he suggested, as part of the “powerhouse for the north”. |
| Related: Network Rail funding gap puts brake on five-year plan, ministers admit | Related: Network Rail funding gap puts brake on five-year plan, ministers admit |
| It was all a bit vague. No how or when. No firm financial commitment. Just a claim that “we are working with businesses and cities in the north to make that happen”. | It was all a bit vague. No how or when. No firm financial commitment. Just a claim that “we are working with businesses and cities in the north to make that happen”. |
| On Twitter, angry rail users shared the hashtag #northernpowercut to express frustration at the announcement. Services to and from the north of England are already dangerously overcrowded: according to the Department for Transport, the most crowded service last year was the 16.46 from London Euston to Crewe. Two TransPennine Express trains also made the top ten worst offenders. | On Twitter, angry rail users shared the hashtag #northernpowercut to express frustration at the announcement. Services to and from the north of England are already dangerously overcrowded: according to the Department for Transport, the most crowded service last year was the 16.46 from London Euston to Crewe. Two TransPennine Express trains also made the top ten worst offenders. |
| Nick Kingsley, the managing editor of Railway Gazette, said McLoughlin may actually be making a very sensible decision for the long term. | Nick Kingsley, the managing editor of Railway Gazette, said McLoughlin may actually be making a very sensible decision for the long term. |
| He said: “Electrification alone doesn’t create much much extra capacity. To create the capacity and shorten journey times, really you have to address other, bigger issues, such as adding new track and new signalling. Electrification was never really a gamechanger for connectivity and capacity. | |
| “Obviously we need to see the details, but it may be a wise decision to skip a tricky project which potentially had limited effect in favour of one big bang which could deliver the speeds and capacity needed for the future.” | “Obviously we need to see the details, but it may be a wise decision to skip a tricky project which potentially had limited effect in favour of one big bang which could deliver the speeds and capacity needed for the future.” |