We’ve been speaking exclusively with Tim Wood, Acting Chief Executive and Northern Powerhouse Rail Director at Transport for the North…

Q: How will the £39bn Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme help to “level up” the North as a region and what could be its wider impact on development?

Unreliable, often overcrowded and slow services are commonplace for the North’s rail commuters. Inter-city connections between the main urban centres are poor, a wealth of young northerners constrained in the jobs and opportunities they can access from their own travel to work area. And there is an over reliance on the car to travel, with the majority of journeys only occupied by one person.

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Northern Powerhouse Rail changes this. By revolutionising the capacity, frequency, and speed of train services between the region’s major urban areas through a mix of new lines and significant upgrades to others. This transformational set of interventions will create opportunities, kickstarting an upturn in the fortunes of people and businesses in the region.

Earlier this year, Civic and Business leaders in the North – speaking with one voice through Transport for the North (TfN) – unanimously agreed to a preferred network and phasing plan for Northern Powerhouse Rail.

The network includes electrification from Liverpool in the west to Hull in the east. It will feature a new line from Manchester to Leeds via the centre of Bradford; significant upgrades and journey time improvements to the Hope Valley route between Manchester and Sheffield; a new connection from Sheffield to HS2 and on to Leeds; significant upgrades and electrification of the rail lines from Leeds and Sheffield to Hull; a new line to be constructed from Liverpool to Manchester via the centre of Warrington; and significant upgrades of the East Coast Mainline from Leeds to Newcastle (via York and Darlington) and restoration of the full Leamside line.

The job market for employers and employees will be widened beyond compare from what we have today, particularly for those in and around key stations. Take Leeds for instance, nearly three million more people and 77,000 more businesses will be within 90 minutes of the city region. That transformational impact will be replicated across the North, opening up job opportunities and attracting investment to ultimately stimulate economic growth, helping us break the shackles from four decades of underinvestment.

Committed to in full, Northern Powerhouse Rail will deliver up to £14.4bn a year in total gross value added to the economy by 2060; around 74,000 new jobs in the North by 2060; and an additional 12,250 seats per hour in the morning peak travel time. It promises a greener future too, with up to 58,000 cars taken off our roads every day.

Northern leaders’ vision for rail travel is bold and it is ambitious. But it is also a long-term solution to put right what has become a chasm in our national economy between the North and London and the south east.

Northern Powerhouse Rail’s impact will transform rail travel, ushering in a modern, fit-for-purpose system that will be transformational. However, it is more than that. It boosts our economy, reduces our carbon emissions, and delivers tangible benefits to people’s quality of life.

Q: Your £70bn One North Vision presents an ambitious future for the North’s Transport system, what are the key components of this?

Our Strategic Transport Plan outlines how strategic investment in transport could support up to £100bn growth in gross value added and create an additional 850,000 jobs by 2050. It takes a holistic region wide approach that includes rail; smart travel; roads; and local and sustainable transport.

NPR is a major part of our vision for a transformed rail network in the North, the other aspect is our long-term rail strategy. It outlines investment in lines, stations, services, and franchises to deliver greater connectivity, capacity, and cost effectiveness.

As a minimum we need to see:

  • all passenger routes served by a minimum of two trains per hour
  • long distance services to achieve average journey speeds of at least 80mph
  • inter-urban services to achieve average journey speeds of at least 60mph
  • local and suburban services to achieve average journey speeds of at least 40mph
  • rail to directly serve each of the North’s international airports
  • infrastructure to be available to enable a weekday inter-peak level service on Sundays and public holidays
  • major ports in the North to be served by a network that will support movement and future growth of rail freight
  • a 50% improvement in the average speed of freight services by 2028

We have also identified a major road network, which includes the North’s economically important roads. The network includes both strategic and important local roads, representing about seven per cent of roads in the North, and links the North’s important economic activity.

Our ambition is for the major road network in the North to act as a seamless network enabling safe, reliable and resilient multimodal journeys.

We are exploring options for reducing the impact of road-based travel on the environment, air quality and carbon emissions. Through influencing travel behaviour, supporting higher quality design and adapting to innovative technologies, such as electric vehicles, the major road network can be improved, managed and adapted to support a sustainable Northern economy.

Delivering a new era of simple and seamless public transport journeys across our region through contactless payments, real time service information, journey planning tools and a simplified pricing structure is another key aspect of improving the passenger experience in the North.

Earlier this year our integrated smart travel team was wound down as funding from central government was not granted, but through our strategic rail team we will continue to influence, shape and deliver smart travel improvements for passengers. In a modern world it is only right that public transport is accessible and simple to use from a mobile device for the North’s people.

And finally, local and sustainable transport delivering transformational, inclusive economic growth will require complementary and supporting investment at a local, as well as a pan-Northern level for the ‘whole journey’. This means targeting short trips that could be undertaken by public transport, cycling or walking, thereby reducing localised congestion, improving the environment, and supporting an integrated transport system.

For instance, take Mayor Burnham’s ambitious plans to bring Greater Manchester’s buses back under public control, where operators bid to run services on a franchise basis. This will form part of the Bee Network, which looks to bind intra-city connectivity bringing bus, tram, and active travel routes together holistically.

The benefits for passengers across the Greater Manchester area are clear – a tap-in, tap-out system from A to B that is accessible, affordable, sustainable, and easy to use. The appetite for a London-style publicly owned bus system is plain to see. It was also a key manifesto pledge for Mayor Rotheram in Liverpool City Region, and in West Yorkshire by the newly elected Mayor Brabin.

Aligning local transport networks is an essential part of delivering an integrated system for the betterment of travel across our region, supported by inter-city rail and road connections.

Q: To what extent is the arrival of HS2 essential to realising your vision for the future of transport in the North of England?

Transport for the North has been steadfast and clear on this – the North needs both Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2  delivered in full, this should not be an either-or choice.  

Northern Powerhouse Rail connects the east and west of the North of England, as well as HS2, which provides north to south connectivity. Taken together, HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail open up a much bigger market of jobs and opportunities than today. The potential of the North to not only thrive, but boost the national economic picture, is huge.

These schemes are interdependent, NPR relies on 80km of HS2 Track and infrastructure. They should be delivered together, in full, to put right decades of underinvestment in a Victorian two-track network that is creaking at the seams.

For instance, Manchester Airport sits at the heart of the integrated Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 Phase 2b network. A new HS2/Northern Powerhouse Rail Manchester Airport station will provide faster, more frequent journeys between the airport and a wide range of destinations across the North. The impact of Northern Powerhouse Rail means that the population of the North that will be able to access the new Manchester Airport station within 90 minutes from two million with HS2 only, over four million with HS2 and NPR – a quarter of the North’s population.

Northern Powerhouse Rail assumes that HS2 will be delivered in full, including the eastern leg. The programme capitalises on eastern leg infrastructure to provide a much-improved railway connection between Sheffield and Leeds. Four Northern Powerhouse Rail services per hour will operate, which will share HS2 infrastructure to Leeds and provide dramatically better journey times.

Before joining HS2, an upgrade including the electrification of the conventional railway network north of Sheffield is proposed, where Northern Powerhouse Rail services will serve new intermediate stations at Rotherham Mainline and Barnsley Dearne Valley enhancing connectivity. These new intermediate stations will also significantly transform communities with high levels of deprivation and offer much improved access to employment centres in Sheffield and Leeds.

Q: How is work progressing toward Northern Powerhouse Rail spades in the ground?

We continue to make the case for Northern Powerhouse Rail and important decisions for the programme are approaching – particularly in relation to the publication of the Integrated Rail Plan, which should give much-needed clarity around the integration of major rail investment programmes – but while the case is being finalised we are moving at pace across wider scheme development.

For instance, we are working with Network Rail to undertake ground investigations between Leeds and Hull. The work is scheduled to be completed in summer and the analysis will help determine the stability and composition of the ground upon which the line runs as work to upgrade it will introduce additional stress. This, in turn, will inform the amount of civil engineering work required to complete the work and will help determine the overall cost for the NPR business case.

Early preparatory work such as this, undertaken in collaboration with Network Rail, local transport authorities and the Department for Trasnport will help mitigate risks early and keep costs on budget.

Additionally, early station work on the Sheffield-Leeds corridor is also progressing well. Station project boards for Barnsley Dearne Valley and Rotherham Main Line have been formed as development work ramps up.

What both of these examples show is that Transport for the North, working with the Government, is committed to getting things going on the programme, which gives some certainty to the industry that NPR is happening and will be delivered.

As I’ve mentioned, we await the IRP’s publication. It’s critical that the Government publish the plan as soon as reasonably possible, so the North can plan with certainty around the railway investment that will be delivered. We can’t risk delays to Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 arriving in the North and the economic boom both would bring – including up to 74,000 new jobs with NPR.

There is a real need for the Government to publish the IRP for the North and Midlands without delay, to give much-needed certainty on delivery of major schemes like Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2 and the Transpennine Route Upgrade

The rail interventions outlined in the landmark report must be in-step with the transformative vision of Northern leaders, which includes full delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2 and TRU.

As a co-client of Northern Powerhouse Rail with the Department for Transport, Transport for the North will work with Government to get spades in the ground on the project as soon as possible.

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