Government must urgently reassess rail investment options for the Midlands and northern England, according to the Transport Select Committee.
It says alternative schemes were not properly tested and decisions made in the Integrated Rail Plan need to be revisited.
The Committee also calls for a full analysis of the wider economic impacts of different options for the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme.
Without it, the Committee says it is ‘difficult to see how the Government has fully assessed the levelling up agenda and the case for different NPR options’.
If alternative proposals are later found to offer better outcomes for taxpayers, the economy and local communities, then Government ‘must grasp the nettle’ and make the necessary changes.
High Speed 2
The report from the Transport Select Committee also calls on the Department for Transport to publish an updated benefit-cost ratio for the entire High Speed 2 project by next March, including a direct comparison between the original and revised Eastern leg of HS2 Phase 2b.
The revised Eastern leg will see the Birmingham to Leeds route terminate at East Midlands Parkway, but the report says HS2 Limited was ‘unable to tell the Committee how much the revised leg would cost’.
Leeds and Bradford
Some towns and cities, the report notes, have been left ‘very disappointed’ by decisions made, including Leeds and Bradford.
It asks the Government to conduct a study on how best to take High Speed 2 to Leeds, and to commit to supporting the redevelopment of the city’s station by 2035.
The Committee points out that Leeds station is already over capacity and will not be able to handle increased services generated by the Integrated Rail Plan.
For the city of Bradford, the Government had rejected plans for a new station at St James’s Market on the basis that it is too far from the centre and has ‘no demonstrable business case’.
But the Transport Select Committee disagrees and says the case for the new station should be reconsidered.
Trans Pennine corridor
For the route between Leeds and Manchester, the Government chose in its Integrated Rail Plan to back the first – and cheapest – of three options put forward for Northern Powerhouse Rail: a mix of new build and upgraded high speed line at an estimated cost of £22 billion.
But the Transport Select Committee says that Government must ‘remain open’ to the possibility that a second or third option may represent better value.
Option two (£31 billion) was for an entirely new line between Leeds and Manchester, and another new line from Warrington to Liverpool, plus a new underground station at Manchester.
Option three (£36 billion) included underground stations at Warrington and Bradford.
Manchester
Government’s plans for enhancing Manchester Piccadilly station also come under fire. It had backed an enhanced surface station, but local stakeholders are said to prefer an underground alternative.
The Committee calls for a ‘renewed, transparent conversation about the risks and benefits of the underground station option’ at Manchester Piccadilly.
Golborne Link
Elsewhere, a decision to scrap the ‘Golborne Link’ providing a connection from High Speed 2 to the West Coast Mainline near Crewe is called into question.
The Transport Select Committee says the scheme was ‘not perfect and faced substantial local opposition’ but is ‘concerned that it has been cancelled without an alternative being proposed’ given its strategic importance for passengers and freight heading to and from Scotland.
Government, it says, needs to set out an alternative proposal by next March.
Best case scenario
The Committee is also concerned that the case for the Integrated Rail Plan is based on a best case scenario which ‘may not come to pass’ and that promised journey times may not be achievable.
Transport Select Committee chair Huw Merriman said he welcomes the scale of the Government’s promised spending on rail of £96 billion and agrees it has the potential to transform rail travel for future generations.
Huw also said that the business case for High Speed 2 was based on it going east to Leeds. Now, it stops in the East Midlands “without any understanding of how much money is saved.
“However, many towns and cities are already disappointed by the proposals which have been set out,” he added. “The Prime Minister promised that he would, with Northern Powerhouse Rail, do for the North what he did for Londoners with Crossrail. Instead, much of the track will be an upgrade of existing line.”
“We ask Government to revisit the evidence base for the decisions they have reached.” He added that Ministers “must be cautious but transparent about the benefits that can be delivered” by the Integrated Rail Plan.
“It is ambitious and exciting but public and stakeholders, especially in the north and Midlands, must be able to see that the benefits of the current proposals outweigh the other options which have been put forward.”
Transport for the North welcomed the report. Its chief executive Martin Tugwell said: “Our plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail are fully costed and have a robust evidence base to underpin them. They will provide a good return on their investment by allowing the North to break free of the constraints that have held back our economy for too long.
“In particular we are very pleased that the Committee has asked for the Government to reconsider the case for a new station in Bradford.” Martin also supported the call for an underground station at Manchester to be re-examined and for the redevelopment of Leeds station.
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin added: “I’m pleased to see that the Select Committee’s report confirms what we said when the Integrated Rail Plan was first published. The Government must ensure that the impact of Northern Powerhouse Rail decisions on Bradford in particular is robustly assessed against levelling up criteria, including producing benefit-cost ratio analyses for all NPR options.
“The redevelopment of the St James’s Market site as a new station for Bradford would not only facilitate further investment in the city but also enhance rail connectivity in the north.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “The Government’s £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan is the largest single rail investment ever made by a UK Government, and this report significantly underplays the benefits it will bring to millions of passengers for generations to come.
“The Plan, which is backed by detailed economic analysis, is already benefitting our regions with 26,000 jobs created for the HS2 project alone, and will deliver transformational benefits to communities across the North and Midlands, far sooner than under previous plans.”
Published at Transport Infrastructure News, 27 July 2022