£17bn Manchester-Liverpool link in doubt
Reports from Liverpool on Wednesday have presented a reassessment for rail services across the North of England.
The link between Manchester and Liverpool of a high-speed railway, known as Northern Powerhouse Rail, is in jeopardy after transport secretary Louise Haigh stated that funding may not be available. Meanwhile, Avanti West Coast, which services the North West, will continue to fulfil its existing contract.
Manchester-Liverpool rail link in doubt
This spring, Conservative transport secretary Mark Harper had said a new line between the two cities would be funded by £12bn freed from the cancellation of HS2’s northern leg, before his party was ousted from power in July.
“The previous government went ’round promising money like there was no tomorrow, including all their commitments on Network North,” said the current transport secretary, according to media sources at the Labour Party conference.
Haigh added that the Conservatives had not finalised an agreement with the Treasury, meaning that funding is not practically available.
Haigh said she was “conscious” of the importance of the proposed £17bn rail link, but that she believes a longer-term plan is needed.
A reportedly defiant response from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham urged the minister not to withdraw funding.
He said: “We will not accept that. We believe the government of any colour needs to honour promises to the North of England and that’s what we will fight for.”
Proposals in May led to the formation of a Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board, announced at UKREiiF, with Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram proclaiming that, unlike HS2, “this is going to happen”.
However, commitment to the project, first proposed by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, appears to be waning.
Plans for the rail link would cut travel times between the two cities by more than half
Upgrades to both Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Central stations have also been proposed.
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority had already begun searching for a partner to work on its Liverpool Central regeneration plan.
Plans already laid out by the two Metro Mayors could be torn up as the withdrawal and reassessment of funding could bring Northern Powerhouse Rail back to the drawing board.
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with devolved leaders, as set out in the government’s manifesto.
“We are currently reviewing the position we have inherited on HS2, and will set out next steps in due course.”
Greater Manchester Combined Authority has been contacted for comment.
Avanti retains contract despite performance concerns
Avanti West Coast, the operator of train services on the West Coast Mainline, will not be stripped of its contract after legal advice suggested that the operator was not in breach of any obligations, according to media reports.
The train operator will remain as the chief operator on the line and is expected to be one of the last operators to be nationalised under current plans.
In July, the nascent Labour government demanded “immediate action” in regard to the operator’s “unacceptable performance”.
At the time Haigh blamed the Conservatives for “shockingly low” standards and said that the rail group’s nine-year contract had a very low bar for performance requirements.
She claimed she will strive to bring Avanti into public ownership at the earliest opportunity.
The Passenger Railway Services Bill introduced in July by Labour would “allow train operators to be provided by a public sector company when existing franchise contracts end”.
Avanti, which carries around nine million passengers every year, was handed a long-term contract by the Conservatives in September last year.
The operator has faced criticism with the Office of Rail and Road’s figures indicating that between April and June, Avanti was the worst-performing train operator in the UK – with especially high cancellation figures.
However, Avanti also pointed to the same report to prove that 57% of cancellations were due to issues on the network as a result of infrastructure, external incidents and other operators.
Additionally, for only 22% of journey delays could Avanti be held responsible for.
Rail infrastructure is the delegated responsibility of Network Rail, which owns the UK’s railway network.
Red or Blue they all live in London once they get into parliament so expect no major funding for anything outside the M25. All we get is false promises and lies just dressed up in a different way. Full devolution for the North West please.
By Bob
Maybe Louise could cancel her personal photographer if there is hardly any money for things. Every little helps
By Balancing the books
Five minutes after Ange’s proud Northerner speech, the first thing London Labour do is stitch us up. I despair at this country. We all know that Reeves is about to announce billions for the extension of HS2 to Euston, making it into the North London commuter line. Just like Blair, they will continue to betray the North at every opportunity. We need full devolution as a region from the Southern colonialists, propped up, by interlopers like Louise Haigh.
By Elephant
Absolutely expected. We knew the Tories would never had built NPR. They promised it, but like HS2, never moved forward and eventually cancelled. The promise that it would go ahead for NPR was only to get re-elected. It was a lie from the start.
Labour on the other hand may not outright lie like the Tories did, but they have never built any major form of public transport for the north of England in their history – It’s just not in their DNA. They wil cancel it as well, as always.
Labour will lose the next election, because they will build nothing (transport, hospitals etc) and the Tories will promise it all. When the Tories get back in, they will cancel it all as their promises are always lies.
It’s an endless cycle.
By EOD
I wonder where Louise lives? They’re all exactly the same .Expected.
By Anonymous
And yet if London needs 40 billion for an underground extension anywhere it’s green lights all round. It’s the same old story.
By Anonymous
I’m amazed that people, including the media, continue to participate in the Government wheeze of blaming a private company (in this case, Avanti) for the failings of a system they created, own and for which they set the terms of operation. They really must find it all very amusing.
By Stuart
It’s a deeply unserious country that can’t sort out efficient links between our major cities. The Treasury – and their hapless/hopeless short-termism – really needs to get in the sea
By Sceptic
Did we ever believe the Blue Meanies , I mean Tories, when they told us this £12billion was set aside. Sometime in the future the whole of the North will get the railway network it deserves and then we won’t have to save 30 minutes getting to London as we can happily commute in the region we live in.
By Anonymous
Three months in and the levels of disappointment for the new government are high enough to build the Mersey barrage….
By Anonymous
£17 billion – thats over £500m per mile – how??
By Anonymous
Many of the comments on here are just plain silly, and party political. It does appear to be true that the previous Government supported something in principle that they had not actually allocated any money for, So where do we go from here? We currently have two and a half rail lines from Manchester to Liverpool (Chat Moss, Warrington Central and Warrington BQ). all are slow, and confusingly use two different stations in Manchester. One is electrified, but clogged up with local trains that limit speed and frequency. There is a desperate need for action, and I’m happy that Andy Burnham is on the case. The solutions are either to upgrade one line which would mean allowing fast trains to overtake, or to rebuild the WBQ line.
By Peter Black
Yet another government elected on false promises. Will the north ever get any decent transport investment?
By MJ
Should be renamed Northern Outhouse Rail suffering from a diet of false promises, and slow transit
By R Stephenson
There are two rail lines linking Liverpool and Manchester and it takes under an hour even though they are all stopping services. Manchester Airport has 178 trains daily to Manchester Piccadilly and it takes 18 minutes. What is the problem? 17 billion pounds for another line is madness. No need for it. In a hurry? Get an earlier train.
By Anonymous
If there aren’t spades in the ground for some form of Northern Powerhouse Rail within 4.5 years, Labour have got zero chance of winning the next election.
The false promises have gone on for far too long. People wont turn back to the Tories it’ll be left wide open for the Reform lot.
By Anonymous
Can Avanti tell us in Liverpool when we are getting our 2 trains per hour to London Euston. The Hitachi 807s must surely have completed all their trials by now, and December has been spoken of. We were promised 2 trains per hour when Virgin got the franchise but that was strangely ditched at the last minute.
By Anonymous
The only rail line that is slower than it was in the 19th century.
By Anonymous
If this is true all the Northern Mayors should resign from the Labour party.
By Anonymous
@Anonymous 1.40pm – Avanti have said ‘by Dec 2026’ for 2 trains per hour, at least narrowing it down a little.
By WayFay
Incredible hypocrisy. Avanti service is very low and very expensive. It should have been replaced. And the fact that they don’t want to allocate money on northern projects speaks volumes about the honesty of the party when campaigning.
By Anonymous
This country just loves to shoot itself in the foot. What a joke.
By Quail
Bugger…. what with the pay rises, I was looking to swap careers and become a train driver!
By Mr N Imby
I really hope this is fact
What a stupid hair brain idea it is/was
By Ben
Very approprite and illuminating to include an article on existing infrastructure causing poor Train Operator performance, contrasted with uncertainty over funding for enhancing that same (or some of the same) infrastructure.
By Anonymous
Two Metro mayors = And what utter nonsense. Stop trying to please the easily led and lets get back on track. The next five years will be up hill.
By Anon 3
Increased taxes, reduced investment, how does this equate to a growth economy ?
By Real Deal
No government ever misses an opportunity to re-announce something, It wont just be we are continuing to fund an existing scheme, it will be that they are providing funding for something new the previous government didn’t.
By Watcherzero
@September 25, 2024 at 12:47 pm
By Stuart
That’s probably because Avanti deserve the criticism (I’ve actually used their service – Virgin were better).
By Rye
We just need the four tracks between Piccadilly Station and the new bridge junction, as originally planned. Thanks
By Kevin
Levelling up going well I see.
By Red Tories.
Re anonymous 25th September 1 09pm. The cost per mile seems huge but that is because a huge amount of the proposed sum was centred on Manchester. In reality very little was allocated t9 infrastructure in Liverpool. If we are ever to have a fair allocation of funding from the south to the north, we mustn’t repeat mistakes by placing disproportionate amounts of funding in any one norther base.
By Anonymous
Needs cancelling altogether
By Anonymous
If you can’t find a better way to spend £17,000,000,000 than on railways you do not deserve the money.
By Logistics
NPR and it’s unloved and ineffectual scion were a political dog’s dinner of a project from the get go. Good riddance.
By Thomas Brassey
Network Rail cause more problems on the network than anyone else; they’re nationalised but no one from Government is holding them to account. Avanti are useless, but blame clearly lies elsewhere too
By Adam R Howard
Don’t delude yourselves, there is a North-South divide. The haves and the have-nots. All of my life it has existed.
We have to be vocal, petitioning the government for fairer representation.
But most of all as a region we need greater co-operation between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield etc. With the aim of greater independence, self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
The Northwest needs to push down the path of Biotech, AI/ML, Quantum Computing, Nuclear Fusion, and Space Exploration.
There needs to be a detailed strategy drawn up and then a plan must be executed. Think this is far-fetched? Remember your history!
By LordLiverpool
It takes 36 minutes to travel from Lime Street to Manchester Victoria. What is the point of spending vast sums to reduce this time?
By Anonymous
Loose change compared to London and other cities around the world
By Anonymous
17bn is peanuts. This is the cost over the multi-year duration of the project and it will be largely paid back via fair revenue, so it’s an investment. Compare that to the amount spent on the NHS or prisons or any other public service and you start to ask the question, why WOULDNT you spend 17bn on what would be a huge upgrade in infrastructure that provides permanent benefits to people across the north.
By Anonymous
Anonymous 10.03 – it’s not about speed it’s about capacity. A new line means we can run more local-stopping trains on other lines which means everywhere between Liverpool and Manchester (and on the wider network) benefits too.
By Anonymous
The TransPennine, done on the cheap improvements, are reaching York in 2035. Eleven years to knock ten minutes off the time between York and Manchester. This is because cheap London governments, do not address the fundamental issues.We have consistently seen all regions outside the South East, neglected and betrayed and this has resulted in our young people outside the chosen ones,being deprived of opportunities, they take for granted.
By Elephant
The reason there is no growth in the Northwest because to be frank Manchester is always whinging and trying to undercut every other city when there are other cities with more potential .
By Anonymous
As a Labour supporter I am frankly disgusted by the actions of Sir Keir and the the Party. Seems we have a RedTory government once again. This is just another kick in the nethers for everyone in the North. Who remembers the Tories much fainfaired Liverpool to Manchester to Hull full electrification program? Quietly cancelled of course.
By Bernard Fender
It looks like the north will again be left behind. The rolling stock, length of trains and infrastructure is far superior in the south.
By Anon
China would have got it built rapidly if there but then China is not run by two political parties that are totally corrupt and controlled by donors all of whom are only interested in their own financial interests and London where they live
By Tracey Shaw