Leeds Manchester Powerhouse Trains Quantity Increase Transport

The number of hourly seats on the route between Leeds and Manchester is set to quadruple by the mid-2020s, the Chief Executive of Transport for the North has said.

Barry White, whose organisation was set up in April to create a cohesive voice for northern England’s transport system, told delegates at our West Yorkshire Economic Growth Conference that the delivery of new rolling stock next year will see a ‘fantastic increase’ in capacity on the line from 800 seats per hour to 2,000, and this will increase again in the mid-2020s to 3,000, representing a quadrupling in capacity on the line between Leeds and Manchester.
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White said the business case for the Northern Powerhouse Rail, which will involve a combination of upgrades to the existing network and construction of new lines, is to be submitted in December. These improvements would have knock on benefits across the network, meaning for example that the journey from Leeds to Liverpool will be cut to an hour, he said:

They would also have benefits for the wider economy of the north by creating a more integrated labour market, White said: “Creating greater east-west connectivity and better east-west rail capacity will give people choices about how they move about the north. It will create liquidity of employment. It will allow people to take a job in Liverpool and live here. Drawing the cities of the north together will allow the north to perform better as a whole. This puts Leeds right at the nexus of a hugely improved rail network.”

He said that TfN is also working on road studies to upgrade the A66 and a new Transpennine tunnel.

And White said that while TfN itself had a small team it draws on ‘several hundred’ people at Network Rail to develop its plans for the NPR, including costing the project.

Angela Barnicle, Chief Officer for Economic Development at Leeds City Council, said the authority, had drawn up an integrated master plan for the city’s mainline station, which will also be the terminus for HS2. The number of passengers using the station is forecast to be grow to 70m over the next 20 years, which would put in on a par with London Bridge station.

She said that the masterplan’s principles had been adopted into the council’s planning policies. The site of the HS2 station, which will occupy a 400 to 500m wide stretch of Leeds’ South Bank, had been shifted half a km to the north to improve connections with the existing station and the city centre, said Barnicle: “When you step off you will have a seamless interchange with the airport.”

Prior to the delivery of the HS2 station, she said the council is working on projects to improve transport connectivity within Leeds.

Barnicle said the council had conducted a ‘significant consultation exercise’ during the summer on its ‘Connecting Leeds’ programme, which is designed to help the city’s residents shift from the car to mass transit systems. It includes plans for three new train stations serving the White Rose office park, Thorpe Park and Leeds Bradford airport, all of which are seen as key hubs for the future economic development of the city. The new station would mean the airport is more accessible than Liverpool’s John Lennon airport from the two cities’ respective city centres.

The plan also includes five bus priority corridors and a reworked Armley gyratory system.

And the council has developed a new spaces strategy to improve the quality of the city centre’s public realm, including the creation of a new city square fronting onto Leeds mainline railway station, she said: “It will give a space larger than Trafalgar Square which will be a significant improvement on that gateway.”

Barnicle also said that the proposed east Leeds orbital road would unlock a 5,000 home extension, which already has planning consent. She said early junction works are already being delivered and a public inquiry on the scheme is due to take place in February.

Matt Rice, principal strategic planner at Network Rail, said small change to services could have knock on effects: “Leeds is a massive rail hub and is part of massive system so a change to timetables has massive impact in other parts of the country.”

Phil Forster, Head of External Affairs at Leeds Bradford Airport, admitted that the facility needs to improve. He said: “A thriving region needs a thriving airport it’s up to us to play our part, this airport’s potential is phenomenal.”

The key improvements required are those connecting the airport and the rail network, Forster said: “We need to bring forward train links and reduce vehicle emissions.”

He also said that infrastructure investor AMP, which acquired the airport in 2017, has announced plans over the next three years to build a new terminal hall, including a new baggage handling facility and an improved food and beverage offer.
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