Written evidence submitted by Alan Francis (IRP0058)

Personal submission

Alan Francis is a retired transport consultant. He has previously been the Transport Spokesperson for the Green Party of England & Wales and is currently the Convenor of its Transport Policy Working Group. There has not been sufficient time since the call for evidence was issued to complete this submission and get it through the party’s policy approval processes. Also it has to be acknowledged that here are strongly divergent views on HS2 within the party. Consequently this is a personal submission and should not be seen as representing the views of the Green Party.

Summary

The first part of this paper looks at the political and transport impacts of the Integrated Rail Plan for Midlands and North. It highlights the shortcomings in IRP. The second part then looks in detail at the impact on routes and major cities and suggests further interventions that could bring the IRP closer to delivering the original benefits proposed by NPR and HS2.

Those further interventions include:

Man Piccadilly through station for NPR/HS2

Castlefield corridor upgrade in Manchester

Upgrade WCML between Crewe and Wigan

New fast line to link Bradford and Huddersfield

4 track Leeds to Micklefield and electrify Micklefield Jn to ECML Hambleton Jn

Electrification of Calder Valley line and lines from ECML to Hull and Middlesborough

Branch off HS2E to Derby, running west of EM Airport

Upgrade and electrify Nottingham to Newark line and a new junction with ECML

Part 1  General comments

Firstly we try to separate out the politics from the transport issues.

Politics

Awful, broken promises, especially in Yorkshire, to Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield. Both Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), planned by Transport for the North (TfN) with support from Dept for Transport (DfT), and HS2 have been de-scoped with most of HS2 Eastern leg (HS2E) scrapped. Overpromised and under-delivered. Many of the promised journey time improvements are impossible with the limited infrastructure changes proposed.

It’s being sold as a £96bn investment but its actually a cut of about £30bn over what was previously promised. Clearly Treasury driven. Roughly half of the £96bn is already committed to HS2 Phase 1 and 2a, its not new money. Some projects are to be delivered later than originally planned despite claims to the contrary that they will be earlier.

Cost breakdown: HS2 phases 1 and 2a £42.5bn, HS2 phase 2b £17bn, Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) £5.4bn, HS2E £12.8bn, NPR £17.2bn, Other £1.5bn. Over 20 years this is about £5bn per annum. This is similar to the 5 year roads programme RIS2 costed at £27bn, also about £5bn per annum. However to decarbonise transport more should be spent on rail and less on road investment.

IRP has introduced uncertainty which is not helpful for businesses or decarbonisation. Many interventions are stated as ‘could be done’, when they really ought to be ‘will be done’, or as ‘subject to affordability’ or ‘subject to further work being completed to determine they represent the right choice on their respective corridors’. There is therefore very little certainty about which projects will actually happen. There are some technical reports to back up the IRP but they have not been published so they can’t be evaluated.

Transport for the North’s (TfN) role in NPR is significantly reduced. TfN will lose funding for NPR and its staff working on NPR will be transferred to DfT. Centralisation of control. This should be opposed.

The IRP only covers parts of the Midlands and the North. It doesn’t cover the West Midlands or anywhere north of York or Wigan. It really only covers the historic counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Several sections of NPR are shown as new lines when the reality is that they are upgrades of existing lines or re-instatements of former lines. This is probably spin to make it appear that more new lines are to be built than is really the case.

Warrington - Marsden is shown as a new line whereas much of it will be on existing lines or re-instated lines. In NPR the new line was going to go all the way to Leeds via Bradford. The choice of Marsden, at the eastern end of Standedge tunnel, as the eastern end of this new line is odd because the line will almost certainly re-use the vacant bores of Standedge tunnel. So a more realistic eastern end for the new line would be Diggle, at the western end of Standedge tunnel. We suspect that Marsden, which is just in Yorks, was chosen so that it can be claimed that the new line runs from Liverpool to Yorkshire.

While it is tempting politically to just rubbish IRP we think it is better to criticise the IRP’s shortcomings and then try to build on what is in IRP and propose comparatively minor enhancements to make it able to deliver the necessary rail journey enhancements in the Midlands and the North. The further interventions proposed in this report might cost in the region of £2bn, ie an extra 2% on the cost of IRP.

Transport

Several major problems with IRP.

1. Yorkshire (Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield) doesn’t get new high speed services on either NPR or HS2. Bradford is omitted from NPR and has no fast link to Manchester. Leeds was supposed to get a new line from the west for NPR and a new line from the south for HS2. Both are effectively replaced by upgrades to existing lines, although the replacement for HS2E is left for further study so not ruled out completely. Government tried to buy off Yorks with offer of £200m towards a Mass Transit system (tram or tram-train) for Leeds. It hasn’t worked. Especially since Yorks leaders discovered that £100m of that £200m will be siphoned off for further work on assessing HS2 in Yorks. A tram network would cost in the region of £1-2bn, not £100m.

2. Terminus station for NPR/HS2 at Man Piccadilly, meaning that all through services (NPR and HS2) have to reverse. This is bad for operational reasons and it adds journey time and inconveniences pax (many people prefer to face forward or backwards and if train reverses they are facing the wrong way). It also requires more platforms because reversing trains occupy platforms for much longer than through trains so each platform can handle fewer trains per hour. The NPR/HS2 station at Man Piccadilly should be a through station. That probably means it has to be below ground, which increases the one-off cost of construction and takes longer but will reduce cost of operation for 100 years or more.

3. Generally speaking journey times between cities in the North and the Midlands will be faster than they are now but not as fast as they would have been with full HS2 and NPR. However the lower speeds and slightly longer end-to-end journey time may actually improve connectivity because the trains will be able to serve more intermediate stations.

4. Many of the projects will not be delivered for 10 or 20 years, if they happen at all. That is far too slow. The modal shift from car to public transport needs to happen asap in order to reduce carbon emissions from transport well before 2030. With many of the major projects scaled back it ought to be possible to deliver them earlier than originally planned rather than later.

5. Many proposed new lines are scrapped and replaced by upgrades to existing lines. While this reduces the environmental impact that would be caused by new lines there will still be some environmental impact along the existing lines. And it means that there will be far more disruption to passengers and for longer periods over the next 20 years. For example, the WCML upgrade between about 1995 and 2005 involved dozens of weekend closures and rail replacement buses. It went over budget, was scaled back and didn’t deliver the planned capacity improvements.

6. Where NPR or HS2 services are specified to run on existing 2 track railways, without upgrading to 4 tracks, there is the likelihood that they will squeeze out local services or freight trains. That would reduce connectivity and so is undesirable. More lines will need to be upgraded to 4 tracks than are specified in IRP in order to retain or improve connectivity and capacity.

7. Insufficient lines proposed for electrification. More electrified railways for both passenger and freight services are required to decarbonise transport.

Despite the  issues mentioned above there are many things in IRP to welcome.

What’s in the IRP:

Integrates NPR and HS2, previously two separate projects unaware of each other

Increased capacity on rail network, more seats, longer trains, more frequent trains

Improved connectivity for some towns

Electrification of MML to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield (previously announced twice, then paused twice, now re-announced)

Electrification of TPML (NPR) (previously announced, then paused, now re-announced)

Electrification of Leeds-Bradford via New Pudsey

Confirms HS2 to Manchester

Confirms HS2 to East Midlands Parkway (EMP)

Faster NPR route between Liverpool and Man Piccadilly via Warrington BQ (low level) and Man Airport (sharing with HS2 between Man Airport and Man Piccadilly)

New NPR line from Man Piccadilly to Marsden

Marsden - Ravensthorpe 3/4 tracking (previously announced)

Upgrades to ECML (previously announced, then paused, now re-announced)

Upgrades to Man - Sheffield (previously announced, then paused, now re-announced)

Digital signalling on some lines

Contactless integrated ticketing system

For further study:

HS2E from Sheffield to Leeds

HS2 connection to WCML north of Warrington, Golborne link

Electrification of Man - Sheffield Hope Valley line

Midlands Rail Hub

Not included in IRP:

NPR via Bradford

HS2E EMP to Leeds

New HS2 station at Leeds

Electrification of Calder Valley line and lines from ECML to Hull and Middlesborough

Manchester Piccadilly through station

Castlefield corridor upgrade in Manchester

What should be added to IRP (see below under Comments on each route/city):

Man Piccadilly through station for NPR/HS2

Castlefield corridor upgrade in Manchester

Upgrade WCML between Crewe and Wigan

New fast line to link Bradford and Huddersfield

4 track Leeds to Micklefield and electrify Micklefield Jn to ECML Hambleton Jn

Electrification of Calder Valley line and lines from ECML to Hull and Middlesborough

Branch off HS2E to Derby, running west of EM Airport

Upgrade and electrify Nottingham to Newark line and a new junction with ECML

Many of the schemes in IRP are re-announcements and/or are a decade or two away so will make little difference over the next decade. Some of these schemes are not scheduled to be completed until the 2040’s, which is far too late to address the climate emergency. They should all be completed or under construction by 2030. This will require more investment each year over the next decade. Also, given the track record of recent governments, there is considerable doubt about whether all, or indeed any, of this will actually happen.

Government promises tend to have a half-life, a bit like radio-active decay. After some period of time, the half-life, the chances of a project happening are halved. After another half-life the chances are halved again, and so on. The big question is what is the half-life of a government rail promise? The answer is probably about 2 years, certainly less than the length of a parliament, 5 years.

HS2 and NPR were not well integrated with each other or with the wider rail network. The IRP has improved integration, particularly between HS2 and NPR. HS2 and NPR sharing tracks in some places makes sense. It will reduce costs and increase the Benefit/Cost Ratio (BCR), which government uses as a criteria when deciding which projects to fund.

It is not clear what is now proposed for HS2 in Leeds. The IRP has dropped the proposed separate station for HS2 but doesn’t state how HS2 services might be accommodated at Leeds. That is part of the further study for Leeds-Sheffield corridor. It is essential that  fast and electrified route is provided between Sheffield and Leeds.

Fast journeys between Birmingham and Leeds were to be via HS2E. Now that this has been partly scrapped IRP proposes that fast journeys between Birmingham and Leeds will be via HS2 to Man Piccadilly, reverse there, and NPR to Leeds. That is acceptable except for the reversing at Man Piccadilly. That should be a through station (see below).

Many routes have significantly increased frequency, e.g. Man - Leeds from 3tph to 8tph, which is to be welcomed and will make travel by rail more attractive.

IRP and HS2 should focus on enhancing connectivity and capacity rather than focussing on very high speeds. The measures proposed below in this report would marginally increase the cost of IRP but significantly increase the benefits in terms of both connectivity and capacity so should improve the BCR.

What is proposed in IRP short-changes several areas in need of better transport connections and does not deliver the improvements that were promised by HS2. But with some further projects the IRP proposals could be extended to deliver most of the originally promised connections but at not quite such high speeds and some extra connectivity not proposed in either HS2 or IRP. There would also be less impact on the environment because most the projects suggested here involve re-using current or former rail lines with only short connecting sections of new line rather than long new lines on new alignments.

Where existing 2 track railways are proposed for use by NPR and/or HS2 and local services they will need to be expanded to 4 tracks to ensure that capacity is not decreased. In general there are 3 variables on a given rail network that can be adjusted - connectivity, capacity and speed. When any one of those variables is increased the other two decrease and vice versa. To increase more than one of those variables requires more tracks and more money.

Terminus stations. HS2 favours these but they make inefficient use of valuable platform space in city centres and prevent further expansion of the network. Man Piccadilly and Leeds should have through stations for NPR and HS2 services. In IRP there is a pathetic attempt to justify having a terminus station at Man Piccadilly on the basis that some European cities have terminus stations where through trains have to reverse. That is true, but they are accidents of geography or history. They are not there by design.

No-one builds new stations for through trains as a terminus. In fact, several European cities have linked up terminus stations to create through stations, Berlin Hauptbahnhof being a good example, which has through platforms for north-south and east-west services, replacing several terminus stations. Indeed Stuttgart, one of the stations cited in IRP as operating as a terminus station, is in the process of being converted to a through station which rather destroys the DfT’s case. And in London both Thameslink and Crossrail link terminus stations on opposite sides of London to create through services, although these are for suburban and regional services rather than InterCity services.

A completely new line from Manchester to Leeds via Bradford for NPR was unlikely to stack up economically. The small time saving would not justify the huge cost of new long tunnels through Pennines, when there are spare tunnels at Standedge on the Huddersfield route that can be re-used at a fraction of the cost and with no disruption to existing services. While a new NPR line would have benefitted Bradford it would have reduced services to Huddersfield.

The proposed NPR station in Bradford was poorly sited for the town centre and connections to local rail and bus services. This would not have been convenient for passengers. When 4 tracking between Huddersfield - Ravensthorpe and grade-separated junction at Ravensthorpe were announced last year that was a sign that government was not going to build the new line via Bradford.

There is just one page about freight in the whole report and that says very little. The IRP will not create as much increased capacity for freight as building new lines would have done. If there is to be a modal shift for freight from road to rail, as is necessary for carbon reduction, then significantly more capacity is required than what will be provided by IRP.

More of the British railway network needs to be electrified and this needs to be done quickly. The government report Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain published last year acknowledged that more rail capacity is needed and that more of the British railway network needs to be electrified. To have any chance of avoiding the catastrophic effects of a climate emergency this needs to be done quickly. The IRP should include the electrification of more rail lines and they should happen earlier than proposed.

Most journeys do not start and end at city centre stations, such as those that will be served by HS2 and NPR. Journeys will typically start at a home and end at a place of work or entertainment or another home or vice versa. IRP, while being primarily about the trunk part of a journey, should acknowledge the need for local parts of the journey at either end of the trunk part of the journey and make recommendations about access to city centre stations from their hinterlands. There is little point in saving 15 mins on the trunk part of a journey if the local parts take an extra 20 mins.

This map is taken from IRP and overlaid in green it shows some of the places where new or upgraded lines are proposed in this report beyond those lines that are included in IRP.

Part 2  Comments on Each Route and City

We now consider each of the routes covered by IRP and suggest possible upgrades to increase capacity and connectivity. Most of the suggested upgrades try to build on what is proposed in IRP and address its shortcomings. The only one that directly contradicts what  is in IRP concerns Man Piccadilly as a through station rather than a terminus station. HS2 London to Birmingham and Crewe is taken as a given since it is now under construction.

Further interventions, beyond those in IRP, that are proposed in this report are marked with ●  below.

Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR)

With the exception of the Manchester area this is now basically an extension of Network Rail’s (NR) Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU). The core section is Manchester to Leeds. NPR should serve more routes at its eastern and western ends. For example at its western end some trains could serve Chester via Warrington. At its eastern end NPR should serve Hull and Middlesborough as well as Newcastle. It states that there could be up to 8 fast trains per hour (tph) on the Manchester to Leeds core section with journey time of 33 mins. That is a significant increase on the current 3 tph but will require significantly more capacity on the tracks. At that frequency it would be impossible to handle a mix of fast and stopping services on just 2 tracks. 4 tracks would be needed throughout, one pair for fast NPR/HS2 trains and another pair for stopping services and freight.

Line speeds on NPR do not need to be as high as those on HS2 because stations are much closer together. Over distances less than about 20 miles higher speeds would only deliver negligible journey time saving, because most of the journey would be spent accelerating up to line speed and then decelerating, but impose significantly greater construction cost. Line speeds of 100-125mph should be sufficient and capable of being delivered largely within the existing alignments, except for the new sections. Those new sections to be shared by HS2 and NPR services should be built to HS2 standards.

NPR should be cleared for W12 gauge so that 9’ 6” ISO containers can be carried on standard flat wagons. This is crucial for getting Transpennine freight off HGVs on M62 and onto rail.

Liverpool-Warrington BQ- Man Airport-Man Piccadilly

New line Man Piccadilly - Standedge tunnel

4 track Standedge tunnel - Huddersfield

4 track Huddersfield - Ravensthorpe (already announced)

Ravensthorpe - Leeds

Leeds - York

Liverpool to Ditton will be on existing line which is mostly 4 track, although the use of each track may need to be altered to reduce the number of conflicting moves at junctions. Ditton to Warrington BQ (low level) will be on the Fiddlers Ferry freight line (the power station has closed so no longer used by coal trains). This will free up some capacity on the Chat Moss line which could enable more container freight trains to access Liverpool 2 port. A local service between Liverpool Lime St and Warrington BQ (low level) calling at all stations to Liverpool South Parkway, Ditton and Widnes South should also be considered.

Warrington BQ to HS2 Manchester branch is shown as a new line but about half of it is likely to be on a former line that crossed Manchester Ship Canal on Latchford viaduct. The viaduct is reported to be in poor condition and no longer useable so it would need to be refurbished or replaced. From Thelwall a short new line, passing south of Lymm, would be required to link up with the HS2 Manchester branch just after it branches off the HS2 main line north at High Legh near M56 J8. NPR will share tracks with HS2 to Man Piccadilly.

The existing NR Man Airport station is about 1 mile from the proposed HS2/NPR Man Airport station (it should be noted that IRP states that Man Airport station is subject to third party funding, so there is no certainty that it will be built). To enable interchange between HS2/NPR services and existing NR services there should be a link between them. Better still the two stations should be co-located. Either the HS2/NPR line should be diverted so that its station is adjacent to the existing NR Man Airport station or there should be an extension of the NR line from the existing NR Man Airport station to the proposed HS2/NPR Man Airport station. This could be a tunnel beneath the apron in front of T2.

Manchester Piccadilly

● As noted above the terminus, or ‘turnback’, station for NPR/HS2 at Man Piccadilly, means that all through services (ie all NPR and some HS2) would have to reverse. This is bad for operational reasons, it introduces conflicting moves, it adds journey time, inconveniences pax and requires more platforms. This should be a through station. That probably means it has to be below ground level, which increases the one-off cost of construction and takes longer but will reduce cost of operation for 100 years or more. A terminus station would require 8 platforms, not the 6 that IRP claims, whereas as a through station would only require 6 platforms. Some platforms have to be 400m in length for HS2 London - Man trains.

The existing NR Man Piccadilly station is on a roughly SE-NW axis and the proposed HS2/NPR station is proposed to be built beside it on the same axis. However NPR services from Man Airport to Leeds are travelling on a roughly SW-NE axis so the HS2/NPR station should ideally be oriented along that axis. This means approaching from a different direction. The HS2 proposal has a tunnel from Man Airport that loops to the north east under Rusholme and West Gorton before turning NW and rising to ground level near Ardwick and then on a viaduct to Man Piccadilly. Between Ardwick and Man Piccadilly IRP proposes a grade separated junction with the NPR line that will continue towards Leeds, to reduce the number of conflicting moves.

Instead the tunnel from Man Airport should run roughly under A5103 Princess Rd under Moss Side before turning NE towards a through station at Piccadilly. This would be a slightly shorter tunnel and so should cost less, partly offsetting the extra cost of an underground station at Piccadilly. Also, a through station would not require the grade separated junction near Ardwick, another cost saving.

The NPR station could be partly under the existing NR station and extend NE under the strip of land between the Metrolink tracks and Travis St and Adair St. This is mainly car/lorry parks and commercial premises. After constructing the new station in a sub-surface box, similar to HS2 station at Old Oak Common in London, the site could be redeveloped above the new station for retail, offices or housing. Oversite development would offset some of the extra cost of constructing a low level station. The new line would then continue in tunnel heading east. The IRP does not specify where its proposed new line between Man Piccadilly and Marsden would run but a tunnelled route from Man Piccadilly could join it somewhere in east Manchester.

Man Piccadilly to Huddersfield

The IRP specifies a new line between Man Piccadilly and Marsden, which is at the east end of Standedge tunnel. It does not specify a route for this line but some of it could be alongside existing rail lines. The Transpennine mainline from Manchester to Huddersfield runs via Stalybridge, which can be reached from both Piccadilly and Victoria. It used to have four tracks all the way from Stalybridge to Huddersfield but has been reduced to 2 tracks.

Between Stalybridge and Diggle, at the west end of Standedge tunnel, the four tracks did not run together. One pair of tracks, still in use, runs up the west side of the River Tame valley and the other pair of tracks, now removed, ran up the east side of the valley. Both pairs of tracks followed the twisting river valley and so would not be suitable for high speeds. A new line will be needed as far as Diggle from either Man Piccadilly or Stalybridge. Neither NPR nor IRP specifies the precise route for this new line.

From Diggle to Huddersfield the four tracks ran in the same corridor. Standedge tunnel has one double bore, still in use, and two single bores, not in use. Tracks should be placed in all of the tunnels as part of the electrification of the line to create a 4 track route.

Between Marsden, at the west end of Standedge tunnel, and Huddersfield the existing 2 tracks have been slewed across the former 4 track solum to increase speed. To re-instate 4 tracks but maintain or increase line speed would require some re-alignment of the trackbed, requiring some land acquisition and earthworks. IRP proposes a mix of 3 and 4 tracks for this section. It should all be 4 track.

Huddersfield to Ravensthorpe

4 tracking already announced as part of TRU.

Ravensthorpe to Leeds

● IRP does not propose any new tracks for this section. The 2 track bottleneck between Ravensthorpe and Leeds will still need to be addressed. It would be difficult to increase to 4 tracks because through Dewsbury and Batley much of line is on embankments and stone viaducts with buildings close by and there is the 2 mile long Morley tunnel.

Most of the section between Dewsbury and Batley previously had 4 tracks, but being built by different companies, LNWR and GNR, each pair of tracks had slightly different alignments and crossed each other several times. The lower GNR pair of tracks have been removed but could be re-instated without demolishing any properties. That would leave a short gap, about 300m, between Dewsbury station and Lower Peel Rd where a new line on embankments and viaducts would need to be built. This would require the demolition of a small number of commercial properties. So the section between Dewsbury and Batley, including both stations, could be 4 tracked enabling fast NPR services to overtake stopping services.

The short section between Morley station and the new White Rose station, including both stations, could be 4 tracked, allowing fast NPR services to overtake stopping services without delaying the stopping services.

If these 4-tracking interventions are not feasible, which is likely to be the case, then it would probably be necessary to construct another pair of tracks on a new alignment, although in a hilly and heavily built up area this would be difficult to do without a lot of tunnelling and/or property demolition. Consequently it would be expensive to do.

● To bypass the congested Whitehall Jn just west of Leeds station a single westbound track could be re-instated on the dis-used Farnley viaduct to connect the high numbered platforms with the NPR line to Dewsbury. This might also require another single track bridge over the Leeds & Liverpool canal immediately west of the station. Potentially the single track could be bi-directional or there could be 2 tracks, eastbound and westbound, on Farnley viaduct if that were beneficial.

Bradford

One of the big losers in IRP is Bradford, losing the promised high speed link to Manchester. The IRP suggests travelling between Bradford and Manchester via Leeds, changing trains in Leeds. This would take 20-30 minutes longer than a direct journey and be no faster than the existing slow route via the Calder valley line. It will get a faster link to Leeds with the electrification of Leeds-Bradford via Pudsey. However this line may also need some 4 track sections at New Pudsey and Bramley stations so that fast trains can pass stopping services.

● A shorter, faster electrified line between Bradford and Huddersfield could provide Bradford with that much-desired fast link to Manchester. This could be provided by re-instating the former Pickle Bridge Line from Brighouse to Wyke, about 3 miles long. Some NPR services could then run Man Piccadilly to Bradford via Huddersfield, Deighton, Bramley chord, re-instated Brighouse to Wyke line, existing Calder valley line to Bradford Interchange. Electrify whole route and line speed around 100mph for most of it should enable journey from Huddersfield to Bradford in about 10 mins, giving a Man Piccadilly - Bradford journey time of about 25-30 mins. Trains could continue on to Leeds with a reversal at Bradford and a 12 min journey time to Leeds, as proposed in IRP. This would provide Man Piccadilly - Leeds via Bradford journey time of about 40-45 mins, about 10 mins longer than the route via Dewsbury.

There could be NPR Liverpool - Manchester Airport - Man Piccadilly - Huddersfield - Bradford services and the proposed high speed Bradford - Leeds services could be extended beyond Leeds to places such as Hull or Newcastle. These would provide Bradford with direct links westward to Liverpool and Manchester and eastward to Leeds and Hull or Newcastle. The two services could be combined with some NPR trains between Man Piccadilly and Leeds going via Bradford.

Bradford Interchange is a terminal station, with through trains having to reverse direction. As noted above under Man Piccadilly, terminus stations are inefficient and add several minutes to journey time. Consideration should be given to making Bradford Interchange a through station. A new line could continue north from the station swing sharply to the east and then south east to join the existing line somewhere near Birksland St bridge. This would involve demolishing some commercial properties and building tunnels under or viaducts over some roads.

Leeds

The original HS2 plan had a separate HS2 terminus station for Leeds at right angles to and south of the existing station. This appears to have been dropped in favour of NPR trains using the existing through station and further study of how HS2 trains can be accommodated. This is a good thing and should be supported as long as sufficient extra capacity can be provided at the existing through station.

● IRP should include: Electrify Leeds to ECML (to both Hambleton Jn and Church Fenton Jn); 4 track Leeds to Micklefield (most was previously 4 track or at least had provision for 4 tracks); Leeds station to provide 3x400m platforms for use by HS2 (remove pl 10 to create longer pl 9 and slightly lengthen pl 8 and 11)

Currently there are 12 tracks approaching Leeds station from the west but just 2 tracks from the east. Consequently most trains from the west have to terminate at Leeds because there is no capacity for them to continue east. This limits the number of trains that can be accommodated at Leeds from both the west and the east. Currently the eastern approach can only accommodate about 10tph in each direction. It needs to be able to handle significantly more, about 16-20 tph each way to allow more trains to run through Leeds rather than having to terminate most services from the west. This would enable more services to be provided to towns and cities to the east and north of Leeds. This also releases platform capacity at Leeds station because through trains only occupy platform for 2-5 mins whereas terminating trains occupy platforms for 15-30 mins.

Leeds Marsh Lane viaduct, immediately to the east of the station, is about 400m long and has only 2 tracks, creating a bottleneck on the eastern approach to Leeds station. Either upgrade signalling so that trains can follow each other more closely, 2 minute headway, say, or widen the viaduct for one or two extra tracks. Then 4 track from Leeds Marsh Lane viaduct to Micklefield Jn. Most of this section was previously 4 track or at least had provision for 4 tracks. The stations at Garforth and East Garforth, which are only about 1/2 mile apart, should be merged into a single station with 4 tracks through it.

The 12 tracks approaching Leeds station from the west funnel into 6 tracks at Whitehall Jn before fanning out to the 17 tracks into the station. To slightly ease pressure on this bottleneck at Whitehall Jn a single westbound track could be re-instated on the dis-used Farnley viaduct to connect the high numbered platforms with the NPR line to Dewsbury, avoiding Whitehall Jn. This might also require another single track bridge over the Leeds & Liverpool canal immediately west of the station.

● Currently all LNER services from Kings Cross (KX) to Leeds operate via Wakefield Westgate because the route from the ECML via Hambleton Jn is not all electrified. Those continuing on to Bradford Forster Sq or Harrogate have to reverse in Leeds station. The line between Micklefield Jn and Hambleton Jn should be electrified at the same time as the line between Leeds and Church Fenton Jn via Micklefield Jn. Then some LNER services from KX to Leeds could operate via Hambleton Jn and continue on to Bradford or Harrogate without having to reverse, reducing journey time by about 5 mins. If trains go to Bradford Interchange rather than Bradford Forster Sq journey time could be reduced by another 10 mins.

Another suggestion for a new sub-surface station at Leeds for NPR/HS2 services has been made by WestonWilliamson+Partners. This envisages a sub-surface station, parallel to the existing station, beneath the car parks on the north side of the existing station between the station and the River Aire. This would also need approach tunnels from both the east and the west and so would  be expensive to construct. However it would significantly ease the congestion on both the eastern and western approaches to the existing station. If sufficient extra capacity cannot be provided within the existing station then this alternative should be considered.

Manchester non-NPR

● The Castlefield corridor, between Piccadilly platforms 13/14 and Castlefield junction, via Oxford Rd and Deansgate, is heavily congested. Recently, train services have had to be reduced to improve reliability. Some now terminate at Oxford Rd instead of Man Airport. Some towns west of Manchester have lost their through services to Man Piccadilly and Man Airport. Service on the recently constructed Ordsall chord, which links Man Piccadilly and Man Vic, has been reduced to just one train per hour. While NPR may eventually divert a few of the services currently using the Castlefield corridor onto new tracks there will still be high demand along this corridor. Consequently it needs upgrading, and urgently so, irrespective of whatever happens with NPR.

Piccadilly platforms 15,16

The only through platforms at Piccadilly are platforms 13 and 14. Platforms 1-12 are bay (terminal) platforms only accessible from the south or east. This severely limits the number of trains that can pass through Piccadilly or terminate from the west. There is a proposal to build another island platform with two tracks, platforms 15 and 16. This would allow many more trains to pass through Piccadilly or terminate from the west.

With the Ordsall chord completed there is a demand for more trains to pass through Piccadilly but insufficient capacity to accommodate them without jeopardising reliability and punctuality. Until these extra platforms are built the Ordsall chord cannot be fully utilised. This project should be completed as a matter of urgency. Much of the planning was done several years ago by NR but funding was not approved by government and so the project was halted. It should be possible to gain planning permission and construct the platforms within 5 years so that they can be in use by 2027.

Oxford Rd

Some of the through platforms at Oxford Rd station should be lengthened so that longer trains can be operated on this busy corridor.

Western access to Trafford Park RFT

All of the freight trains that enter or leave Trafford Park rail freight terminal (RFT) do so via the Castlefield corridor passing through Deansgate, Oxford Rd and Piccadilly platforms 13/14. There is high demand for more passenger services on that corridor. While the freight trains that travel during the night do not inhibit more passenger trains, the typically one freight train each hour during the day do so. Currently the only way into Trafford Park is from the east via the city centre. A route from the WCML into Trafford Park from the west should be provided so that freight trains do not have to pass through Man Piccadilly, releasing more capacity for passenger services. See Culcheth below.

Culcheth

HS2 is planned to run parallel with and close to a former rail line which ran from Glazebrook to Wigan via Culcheth. Part of the former line should be re-constructed, possibly at the same time as the construction of HS2. This would enable a passenger service to Culcheth and freight trains to access Trafford Park RFT from the west (see above).

The Chat Moss line runs from Manchester to Liverpool via Newton le Willows. The CLC line runs from Manchester to Liverpool runs via Warrington Central. A link from the CLC line to the Chat Moss line could be created by re-instating the former branch line from Glazebrook via Culcheth and making a west facing connection to the Chat Moss line, with a station at Culcheth. Freight trains could then access Trafford Park RFT from WCML via Earlestown, Culcheth, Glazebrook and a western connection into the RFT. If another short length of track was re-instated between St Helens Central and St Helens Junction then there could be a St Helens Central to Manchester service via Culcheth.

These measures to free up the Castlefield corridor all need to happen asap, irrespective of whatever happens with NPR and HS2.

HS2 Eastern leg (HS2E)

HS2E to Toton, Sheffield and Leeds is scrapped by IRP. Instead the new line diverts to East Midlands Parkway and trains continue on MML tracks, which will be electrified, to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. While journey times will not be as fast as those originally promised by HS2 this does have the advantage that stations in city centres are served rather than a remote Parkway station at Toton.

IRP suggests that Toton station could still be built if there is a 50% contribution towards the  cost from local players. Since there are no passenger services on the Erewash Valley line a new service would have to be created to serve it.

HS2E as originally proposed 10 years ago served Sheffield much better than the later revision in 2017 because the original route ran alongside the M1 with a station on the HS2 mainline at Sheffield Meadowhall, where there would be interchange with other rail services and Supertram. Whereas the revised route followed the M18 and then passed through Mexborough. The revised route did not directly serve Sheffield. Instead Sheffield Midland station would be on a slower loop off the main HS2E route, mostly on MML. HS2 trains taking the Sheffield loop would take 20-30 mins longer to get to Leeds. Sheffield would only have an infrequent service because most HS2 trains would use the faster main HS2E line that avoided Sheffield in order to reduce journey times to Leeds.

The 2017 revised route involved the highly controversial demolition of the recently built Shimmer housing estate in Mexborough. Many of the houses have been purchased by HS2 but not yet demolished. The welcome scrapping of this section of HS2E means that these houses will no longer need to be demolished. Although it has emerged that the route will still be ‘safeguarded’ so house owners are still left in limbo.

Derby and Sheffield

HS2E is now proposed to only go from Birmingham/London to East Midlands Parkway (EMP) with HS2 services running on MML tracks to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield beyond EMP. While the precise route is not specified this line appears to run fairly close to the M42/A42 for most of its length. This is quite a circuitous route to Derby and Sheffield, running round 3 sides, south, east and north, of EM Airport.

● There could be a much more direct, and about 12 miles shorter route, passing to the west of the airport, branching off HS2E somewhere to SW of EM Airport, in the vicinity of Tonge, and entering Derby via Sinfin. This would be about 7 miles long and most of it could be on the course of a former railway so would require little greenfield development. This would omit EMP for HS2 Derby and Sheffield services, but EMP would still be served by HS2 services to Nottingham as well as MML services. This would reduce journey time on HS2 services from Birmingham/London to Derby and Sheffield by about 10 mins, getting closer to the previously promised times.

Sheffield to Leeds is specified for further study. There were multiple railways in that corridor, including the 4 track Midland Railway main line, but most are closed and have now been partially built on. The route via Barnsley is slow and twisty. Consequently it is likely that a new route will need to be built or the current route via Swinton, Moorthorpe and Wakefield Westgate will be used and it will need to be upgraded. This would require electrification from Sheffield to Moorthorpe, some 4 tracking and increased line speeds.

The Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield should be electrified.

See also Leeds area above.

Nottingham

● With a 26 min journey time HS2 Birmingham to Nottingham would be a very short service by HS Rail standards. These trains could be extended to Doncaster and beyond on the ECML by upgrading and electrifying the Nottingham to Newark line and a new SW to north chord at Newark. This would enable faster journey times than proposed in IRP between Birmingham and places on ECML such as Doncaster, York, Newcastle. However there are 8 intermediate stations between Nottingham and the ECML at Newark on a 2 track railway making it almost impossible to operate a mixture of fast and stopping services. Consequently some of the line would need to be 4 tracked to enable fast HS2 services to overtake stopping services.

IRP indicates that the flat crossing on ECML at Newark is to be replaced by a flyover for Lincoln-Nottingham services. A southbound chord could branch off the Up ECML about a mile to the north, run alongside the A1 and then curve SW to join the new ramp up to the flyover. This would create a grade separated junction.

Midland Main Line (MML)

IRP includes electrification of MML from Kettering to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. This was promised about a decade ago and then suspended. Now promised again. It is essential that this happens this time.

● HS2 and MML services would share the upgraded route along Derby, Sheffield, Leeds corridor. This would probably require some more 4 tracking. It would require re-instatement of 4 tracking in the Leicester area between Wigston Jn and Syston Jn before electrification to accommodate pax services on MML and more freight trains on Felixstowe - Nuneaton route. It would require re-instatement of 4 tracking between Dore and Sheffield and re-instatement of 4th platform at Chesterfield.

● The complex Trent Junction, where the lines to Derby, Toton and Nottingham split may need to be grade separated in order to handle the increased number of fast trains. The MML from Trent Junction to Nottingham is a mix of 2 tracks and 4 tracks. The 2 track section through Attenborough and Beeston stations would probably need upgrading to 4 tracks to accommodate the extra HS2 fast trains.

HS2W and WCML

Create a Liverpool branch off HS2 mainline at High Legh, same point as Manchester branch, to join new NPR  Liverpool - Warrington - Manchester line near Lymm. This is mentioned in IRP as a possibility but doesn’t appear to be a commitment. It should be.

Some HS2 services will leave HS2 just south of Crewe to call at Crewe station. They can then rejoin HS2 via the proposed Crewe Northern Connection or continue on the WCML. This, together with an expected increase in freight traffic for modal shift away from HGVs, will require more capacity on the WCML north of Crewe. IRP fails to address this although it does suggest that it will be looked at in the further studies recommended by the Union Connectivity Review.

Crewe to Weaver junction

● The main line from Liverpool via Runcorn joins the WCML at Weaver junction. Between there and Crewe the west coast mainline consists of a mixture of 2, 3 and 4 tracks. There are three stations, with two on a 2 track section, Hartford and Winsford, and one on a 3 track section, Acton Bridge. Stopping trains at these stations seriously reduces the capacity of the line and jeopardises performance and so few trains call at them. HS2 will put more high speed trains on this section creating demand for more capacity. Changes should be made so that all of the stations are on 4 track sections. This would allow more trains to run on that section and more trains to call at those stations without holding up faster long distance services. This section of the line should be made 4 tracks in all areas except for around the two crossings of the River Weaver which could remain 2 track.

Golborne Jn to Wigan NW

● There are a lot of conflicting moves between fast passenger services and slower freight trains on this section because of the track layout. This reduces capacity, increases the impact of delays and makes timetabling more difficult. Extra services from HS2 will exacerbate this problem.

Change the layout from tracks paired by speed to tracks paired by direction. This reduces the number of conflicting moves and thus increases capacity.

North of Wigan NW

● Another omission from IRP is the failure to address the bottleneck on the WCML north of Wigan. North of Wigan the WCML is only 2 tracks for 7 miles before becoming 4 tracks again at Balshaw Lane Jn. HS2 is proposed to join the WCML near Golborne, just south of Wigan, on a 4 track section. HS2 services to Preston and Scotland would be in contention with fast Avanti WC services and slower moving freight trains on that 2 track section north of Wigan. That section of line could be quadrupled but since most of it has never been 4 tracked this would be expensive and disruptive and require more land.

There used to be a freight loop passing to the east of Wigan and this should be considered for re-opening. This left the WCML where the Bamfurlong Goods lines pass under the WCML, just south of Springs Branch Jn, then passed to the east of Ince in Makerfield and Wigan and rejoined the WCML north of Wigan at Standish Jn, from where the line was 4 track. Both the Bamfurlong Goods lines Jn and Standish Jn were grade separated junctions and could be reinstated as such. The former loop line appears to be unobstructed except for a small water-filled pit that has been dug near Hindley which could be diverted around or bridged. If freight trains were diverted onto the loop line they would not be in contention with faster HS2 and Avanti WC services on the 2 track section of WCML.

Another possibility that should be investigated is using the Wigan avoiding loop for HS2 so that it would join WCML north of Wigan at Standish Jn instead of south of Wigan at Golborne. Other passenger and freight services would continue to use WCML through Wigan, as now.

The WCML will need some capacity and speed enhancements between Wigan and the Scottish border. IRP does not address this. It leaves it for the Union Connectivity Review. However that merely recommends yet another study.

Other

The lines between Crewe and Chester, Warrington BQ and Chester and the Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield should be electrified.

ECML

IRP proposes improvements to remove bottlenecks at Newark, Doncaster, York, Northallerton, Darlington, Newcastle on the ECML be investigated. But there is little detail of how that would be done and there is no commitment to deliver the necessary upgrades. It is also suggested that the line speed could be raised to 140mph on some sections. However, as rail engineer Gareth Dennis has pointed out, it would require 22 miles of 140mph track to save one minute of journey time and there are only a couple of locations where this could be done so this will make little difference to end-to-end journey times.

IRP claims that these upgrades will increase capacity and reduce journey times from London to York and Darlington by up to 15 minutes and from London to Leeds by around 20 minutes. While there could be some journey time reduction knowledgable observers have claimed that these are exaggerations.

● There is a need for 4 tracks all the way between York and Newcastle. These might be 4 tracks on the same alignment or a fast pair and a slow pair that take different routes or a combination of the two.

The existing lines which run parallel to the ECML between Northallerton and Ferryhill via Eaglescliffe and Stockton, the Stillington route, should be upgraded to take W12 gauge freight trains and electrified. This would provide an alternative route for freight trains to this largely 2 track part of the ECML.

There was no commitment to re-open the mothballed Leamside line, which would provide an alternative route for freight and some local passenger services to the congested 2 track section of the ECML between Ferryhill and Newcastle. It should be re-opened and electrified.

Newark. Removing the flat crossing would increase capacity on the ECML. See HS2E above.

Leeds and Bradford. See NPR above.

Decarbonisation

More of the British railway network needs to be electrified and this needs to be done quickly. Currently about 40% is electrified. This needs to double to around 80%. The government report Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain published last year acknowledged that more rail capacity is needed and that more of the British railway network needs to be electrified. To have any chance of avoiding the catastrophic effects of a climate emergency this needs to be done quickly. The IRP should include the electrification of more rail lines and they should happen earlier than proposed.

It is welcome that in IRP the NPR and the MML are proposed to be electrified. However many other lines need to be electrified. These include: Hope Valley line between Manchester and Sheffield, Calder Valley line between Bradford and Manchester, Stillington route, Leamside line, lines between Leeds and ECML (to both Hambleton Jn and Church Fenton Jn), ECML and Hull, ECML and Middlesborough, Crewe and Chester, Warrington BQ and Chester, Sheffield and Leeds

Freight

As noted in part 1, there is just one page about freight in the whole report and that says very little. If there is to be a modal shift for freight from road to rail, as is necessary for carbon reduction, then significantly more capacity is required than that which will be provided by IRP.

While the IRP mentions some NPR routes as being upgraded for freight traffic it fails to mention the lines linking the NPR and HS2 mainlines to the ports and Rail Freight Terminals (RFT). These last few miles, from main line to port/RFT departure/reception sidings, also need to be capable of taking 775m long W12 gauge trains and need to be electrified.

Some freight services today are diesel hauled even though they are on electrified lines for 90-95% of their journey. That missing 5-10% means that they have to be diesel hauled. That doesn’t make sense and isn’t consistent with the Decarbonisation agenda.

Those short branch lines linking main lines to ports and RFTs need to be electrified so that freight trains can be electric hauled for the whole of their journey. This applies to RFTs such as Trafford Park (from the west), Hams Hall, Birmingham FLT, et al.  This applies to ports within the Midlands and North such as Liverpool 2 and Middlesborough and also to ports in the south that send intermodal trains to the Midlands and North, such as Felixstowe, London Gateway, Southampton et al.

Timing

Many of these projects must be brought forward. Upgrade the Castlefield corridor, including Piccadilly platforms 15/16, by 2027. Complete electrification Man Piccadilly (existing station) - Huddersfield - Leeds - York and Huddersfield - Bradford - Leeds by 2030 and new lines for NPR/HS2 Liverpool - Man Airport - Man Piccadilly (new station) - Standedge tunnel by 2035.

The capacity of the rail supply industry will need to be increased considerably to deliver at this pace. There should be a regular and steady supply of projects, instead of the alternating feast and famine of demand over recent decades.

HS1-HS2 Link

Although not mentioned in the IRP we are still of the opinion that there should be a link between HS1 (formerly known as Channel Tunnel Rail Link) and HS2. This was in the DfT’s 2011 version of HS2, but was subsequently dropped, despite the 2011 report stating, “3.29 The Government’s view is that the strategic case for a direct link between [HS2] and the HS1 line to the Channel Tunnel is strong.” Work has yet to start on boring the tunnels between Euston and Old Oak Common so it is not too late to re-instate this link or at the very least make passive provision, junctions in the tunnels, for it to be built later.

January 2022