Lord Blunkett has outlined a phased plan to fix Yorkshire’s broken railways at a ARUP's headquarters this morning, where he spoke at a press conference alongside all three Yorkshire Mayors,.
Described as a creaking Victorian-era infrastructure that’s holding back the region, with train services that fail to meet the needs of both passengers and businesses due to poor performance and reliability, ‘Yorkshire’s Plan for Rail’ set out ambitious plans to fix that.
The phased plan could deliver a multi-billion pound boost to the government’s growth mission, adding £20billion to the region’s economy, generate an extra 83,000 jobs, and contribute to the building of 210,000 new homes over ten years - via a credible and affordable package of investment in new and accessible stations.
This would include improved services in the short term, upgrades to unlock capacity at key stations, and the development of strategic schemes to transform connectivity between the North’s major centres in the long term.
Yorkshire locals have made their feelings clear on the matter
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Highlighted was the need for substantial government investment and support as part of the proposed 10-year infrastructure plan and spending review, with £2.4billion sought for the first phase of improvements between now and 2030, and approximately £14billion required over the next 15 years to deliver the plan in its entirety.
This would be in addition to the £2.5billion funding needed to bring trams back to West Yorkshire and investment for tram extension and renewal in South Yorkshire.
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The Department for Transport said it would consider the changes
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GB News spoke to commuters at Burley Park Station in Leeds to get their views on the current state of Yorkshire’s railways, together with these proposed future plans.
On train reliability Mable told us: “It’s not too bad, sometimes they do get delayed, but it’s only by 3-5 minutes, so it’s not too bad.”
Emilia went on to say: “It could be better. I feel like it’s always really late. Especially when going into Leeds. And it’s really really full as well, they don’t put enough carriages on.”
When then asked about proposed future investment in the railways with increased stations and routes, Mable told us: “That would be quite good as there’s not enough direct routes to some areas, and then prices will hopefully be quite reasonable.”
Emilia echoed concerns around ticket prices as part of railway investment:“Investment is something that’s necessary, and affordable train travel should also be implemented in that.”
And Clay took the opportunity to tell us of her positivity on the proposal of an increased tram network for Yorkshire: “I love trams. I went to Manchester and used the trams for the first time, it was so nice.”
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin said Yorkshire's rail network was "no longer fit for purpose" and they owed it to younger generations to secure funding for modern train services.
York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith highlighted plans for increased train frequency between York and Scarborough, upgraded stations, and a new station at Haxby.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard called for "reliable, effective rail services" adding: "I want to see Sheffield fully electrified, a new station at Rotherham, more capacity at Doncaster and new services between Barnsley and London."
