Today is a big day for rail, London’s Crossrail for £ 19 billion.
Four years behind schedule and £ 4 billion over budget, more than 70 miles of train lines and 10 new stations will cover London and South East from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through 42 km of new tunnels below central London, to Schoenfield and Abbey Wood in the south-east . Its first passengers will board today, initially traveling between Paddington and Abbey Wood.
Crossrail is a welcome development. The densely populated capital requires more connections with new housing, more jobs and more transport capacity. East-West ties have long been a problem across the country, and Crossrail is the cure for London.
READ MORE: North’s own rail plan would mean faster travel and more trains, the government admits – but it was too expensive
But London does not have a monopoly on the chronic housing shortage and lack of public transport capacity. Nor is it the only city with ambitions. Manchester has densely populated areas and a London-style housing crisis. It is also a haven for start-ups and the fastest growing technology city in Europe, with the highest retention of graduates outside the capital. Yet rail connections, like those in cities in the north, are often old, slow, overcrowded and unreliable.
That’s why the government’s drive for extra-budgetary Crossrail – and Boris Johnson’s announcement last week that Crossrail 2 is in sight for £ 30bn – may be difficult to accept for passengers in the North who have been forced to endure squeaky infrastructure and bad schedules for years, complicated by derailed plans for the vital east-west connections of the Northern Powerhouse Rail, the eastern section of HS2 and the Piccadilly metro station.
Boris Johnson struggled to say when Manchester Central Railway will finally be unlocked as he spoke to reporters about his plans for rail transport (Image: Manchester Evening News)
All of this could pave the way for a “barrier rail to the north”, providing the vital capacity needed to get cars and goods off the road in a step towards achieving net zero targets.
But keep your Pacers. A press release came out this week. During the platinum anniversary celebration of Queens, Network Rail will complete a “major overhaul of the signaling” in Manchester, helping more trains to “go on time” between Manchester and Stalybridge. This “colossal” upgrade will see 29 new signals installed. This is part of a larger project to replace nearly 2,500 miles of trail and add a lot of cables.
For its part, it is a component of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, originally promised to be completed in December 2018 in a promise by former Chancellor George Osborne Powerhouse (also including upgrades to Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations that never took place). but somehow it is now merging into the reduced price of the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).
The original £ 36 billion NPR was a new 40-mile high-speed line east-west between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford, once designated a “priority” by Boris Johnson. But this plan, which would allow more hourly trains and shorter journeys on almost every key northern route, was rejected for cost reasons, although no detailed analysis of the potential long-term benefits was made. The analysis here has shown that it can provide more than £ 14 billion by 2060 and 74,000 new jobs, helping the North to work as a ‘single economic unit’.
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It was downgraded to the Grant Shapps Integrated Railway Plan (IRP) last November, cutting £ 18 billion – and entire towns of Hull and Bradford – out of the scheme. Instead, passengers here were offered a new line from Warrington to Marsden, linked to the existing Transpennine line, which would finally be upgraded after years of delay in this program.
At the same time, the eastern branch of HS2, connecting the Eastern Midlands and Leeds, was cut. This means that passengers traveling from Leeds to London will come through Manchester, adding to the already congested routes.
Manchester Piccadilly Metro Station was also hit in the buffers. The government estimates that this will cost £ 5 billion more than their preferred ground station and will provide little economic benefit in return, as well as delay the arrival of HS2 in the city. Leaders here have warned that the Piccadilly Overground Station will be full “from day one”, limiting the potential for future expansion of the rail transport offered by the underground passage. They also say the resulting viaducts needed to transport HS2 through Ardwick and Manchester – and to take NPR passengers further north – will “cut off” eastern Manchester and devastate first-class land.
These are just the big projects – and before you touch on the issue of rolling stock.
In March, Transport Minister Grant Shaps announced a “short-term” £ 84m decision to fund longer platforms, upgraded track-side equipment and larger landfills in the Northwest. The £ 145 million Hope Valley scheme to improve sections of the Manchester-Sheffield railway line – originally due to be completed in 2018 – will start later this month.
Return to the capital and Old Oak Common for £ 1.6 billion will be a new 850-meter “super-hub” for HS2 in West London. Designed to be “the best connected and largest new railway station ever built in the UK”, it will have at least 14 platforms, six high-speed underground and eight conventional overhead, four of which will serve Crossrail . And there are no ugly viaducts here; the twin tunnels will take high-speed trains east to the south end of Euston and west to the outskirts of London.
Experts say about £ 4 billion of Crossrail’s budget has been spent on rebuilding skills lost by the country – and say nations like Germany may seek to reap those skills by relocating the workforce to projects in other regions.
Boris Johnson discusses the Integrated Railway Plan with reporters on a train from Manchester to Warrington (Image: Manchester Evening News)
“Government says there is no value in investing in Manchester”
Neil Holm, who is in charge of Network Rail’s TransPennine upgrade, said this week that the “big investment” in signaling, which starts in Manchester next month, will unlock more reliable travel and the “potential” for faster trains in the future. But critics of the IRP point to the word “potential” – and are reminded of the government’s reluctance to help Greater Manchester and other northern cities meet it.
Gareth Dennis, a railway engineer and expert, said: “Boris now says we need Crossrail 2 and yes we probably do, but it will be another £ 30 billion. Where is this money and why not spend it in Manchester and Leeds? There is no excuse for not building the full Northern Powerhouse railway. It is hard to imagine that this is not just contempt. It’s hard to describe as anything else.
“The government says there is no value in investing in Manchester, no value in investing in people outside the M25. This is the only conclusion I can come to. In other countries, cities are empowered to make these decisions on their own; in the UK, the government is clearly saying that Manchester is not worth investing in.
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“Manchester is one of the largest cities in Europe and yet there is no metro connection, no high-speed rail and all this is an active choice made by Westminster. There is not a single argument for Crossrail that is not applicable to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
At Piccadilly’s HS2 underground station, which was canceled amid seemingly unsubstantiated allegations, it will cost £ 5 billion more than the overground one – he added: “The underground station would maximize benefits and minimize the impact on the city.
“Experts can’t find any justification for this figure of £ 5 billion, it doesn’t make sense. Is the government again justifying why it is not doing the right thing for Manchester?
(Image: Joel Goodman)
“Are they leveling or not?”
Manchester leaders are asking the same question. After five years of promising rail infrastructure that never arrives, Mayor Andy Burnham admits it feels like “hitting his head against a brick wall”.
Mr Burnham, who was chief secretary of the Treasury, which funds the Crossrail package, said he was not worried about investing in London’s infrastructure, but said it raised the bar even higher when it came to “leveling off”. “. He added: “Speaking of Crossrail 2, when they canceled Crossrail for the North with the plan they set out, it’s quite insulting. The railway services here drag people down, they ruin the nights, they make people late for work, then give the cost of babysitting, you have to take a taxi.
“People are fed up with the government, which says it is coming to solve everything, but it is accumulating more and more in London. I wouldn’t mind if we got the same, but we didn’t. This is a decision point for them, they have to decide whether to equalize or not? If they don’t start giving priority to the north and especially to Manchester for investment, I think people will clearly see the answer to that question. “
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Speaking of the Piccadilly price reduction station, Mr Burnham said it would keep the northern economy “at a lower level”, adding: “If this solution is built in 100 years, people will say ‘what have they done?’ didn’t you do it exactly for the North? The North needs the best east-west connection it can have, this is Manchester Piccadilly Metro Station. Future generations will not forgive us. This goes beyond politics, this is the best for the North of England until the end of this century and beyond.
“Generally speaking, billions and billions have …
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