THE much-heralded £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan is “levelling down, not levelling up” says transport and travel union boss Manuel Cortes, who has accused of the government of telling lies.
As reported last night on Warrington Worldwide, the government today published it’s much anticipated – and widely leaked – Integrated Rail Plan.
He said it confirmed the widespread rumours that the Eastern leg of HS2 will not now be completed in full, with the section Leeds being scrapped. Also getting the chop is the new rail line linking Manchester and Leeds, with Bradford being the biggest loser here.
Mr Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said: “This is not levelling up, it’s levelling down.
“The public won’t be fooled by Johnson’s lies and spin. He promised new rail lines and that’s not what is being delivered. He’s sold out the north with more broken promises and it’s our communities and climate that will pay the price.
“We should be making public transport more attractive. But there are fewer trains running, staff are already facing redundancies and now they’re saying the north will not be getting the improvements they promised.
“Today’s arguments about cost savings expose where the Tories’ priorities lie. We’ve just had COP26, with the government apparently committing to action on emissions. But in the budget they slashed air duty on short-haul flights while hiking rail fares. They can find more money for airlines but when it come to our railways it’s all about cuts.
“The Tories are selling out our climate and our northern towns and cities. They’re building a new line for Oxford to Cambridge, but Bradford and Northern Powerhouse Rail loses out. This is a government that doesn’t care about climate, doesn’t care about the north and is happy to break promises and lie.”
Meanwhile, a study of rail timetables by the Manchester recovery Taskforce has revealed possible train services reductions in Warrington, in particular at the new Warrington West station with no semi-fast services to Manchester during the majority of the day.
The study follows the unreliability of the service through the Castlefield corridor to Manchester Oxford Road station.
In its response to the study report Warrington Borough Council sought to preserve cross Warrington journeys. There was also an outcry about losing service at Padgate as one stopping service an hour was suggested to terminate at Warrington Central in both directions.
There is now a draft timetable which shows that a stopping service is proposed once an hour stopping at Warrington West, Warrington Central, Padgate and Birchwood. The Warrington West service to Padgate did not exist before.
However, the cost would result in no semi-fast service to Manchester at all during the majority of the day. Having a semi-fast service to Manchester was the original purpose and justification for Warrington West station.
But Warrington South MP Andy Carter responded to the news by saying:”To see Warrington feature so prominently in the Governments Integrated Rail Plan released today is really re-assuring. I’ve consistently called for better links to Manchester and Liverpool because constituents have told me they want the Government to prioritise this. The Government have taken note and we’re getting the infrastructure our town needs.
“A new high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and a plan to use the Fiddlers Ferry Line to Liverpool will release capacity on the existing network for commuter trains and freight and will allow a new station hub to be created at Warrington Bank Quay, using the lower-level lines through Arpley sidings.
“This plan will have real benefits for Warrington town centre, the link between Northern Powerhouse Rail and the West Coast Mainline will make the town an attractive place to locate and I want to see the benefits of this £96bn package realised as soon as possible, people cannot wait forever to see material differences.”
1 Comment
So they are planning to use the Low Level line under Bank Quay station, that’s interesting. I wonder if they’ll reopen the line East of Latchford? It used to run to near Stockport and I guess it would make sense to spur off the HS2 line South of Manchester towards Liverpool.
Warrington South constituents living near Lymm wouldn’t be happy, and personally I’d miss the Trans Pennine Trail route, but we might as well re-use existing rail corridors if we’re building new lines.