Nina Smith Railfuture Leeds West Yorkshire NPR Northern Powerhouse Transport North

Infrastructure and connectivity across Yorkshire have been at the forefront of economic conversation over the past few years and it is set to be crucial in unlocking major opportunities for growth across the region.
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Owen Wilson, Major Roads & Strategy Manager at Transport for the North (TfN), was one of those speaking about connectivity and infrastructure at the West Yorkshire Development Conference and he outlined his body’s programme of £70bn worth of investments by 2050 during the West Yorkshire Development Conference.

Rail improvements in TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan include phase 2B of HS2, upgraded trans-Pennine links, Northern Powerhouse Rail, new stations at Leeds Bradford Airport and East Leeds as well as a new line between Skipton in west Yorkshire and Colne in east Lancashire.

Road projects include M6 to A1(M) Central Pennines improvements, a new south east Bradford access route and the A65 Leeds Bradford Airport link road

Wilson said that TfN would be working up a sequential programme of investment, covering the next two decades, over the over the next 18 months.

But Nina Smith, Chair of Railfuture Yorkshire, criticised elements of the plan, highlighting concerns over a proposed motorway through the Lake District National Park and the absence of a new dedicated east-west rail freight line, which would use the abandoned Woodhead Tunnels to cut through the Pennines. She said: “Liverpool Port is expanding massively but it’s mostly served by road because there is no rail capacity.”

She also backed calls for NPR to be delivered before the current planned date of 2035.

Smith also expressing “surprise’ that there are no plans to join the line up with the “busy but separate” Airedale, Wharfedale and Calder Valley rail lines to the north of Bradford, which could open up opportunities through improved connectivity to the wider regions.

As a “bare minimum”, she said all inter-city and commuter lines must be electrified, because these trains emit less carbon, break down less often and attract more passengers.

She welcomed moves by West Yorkshire Combined Authority to examine a tram system, noting that Leeds Bradford is the biggest conurbation in western Europe that lacks a mass transit transport system, but said it must become easier to switch between different modes of public transport.

Smith’s concerns were backed up by Rosslyn Colderly, Director for the North at Sustrans: “Investment in trains is an absolute priority. Sadly, more investment in roads creates more demand because they just fill up. We need to invest in getting people off the roads.”

And there is a need to “really focus” on multi modal transport solutions, like laying on extra buses to train stations or making it easier to cycle and walk, she said: “Huge numbers of people are driving two to four kms, which are the distances people are doing in Park Runs on Saturdays. We should be encouraging people to cycle those distances.”

Colderly also said the region’s trains must offer a more “pleasant” experience.

TfN’s Wilson defended the pan-northern transport body’s plans, arguing that people and business must have a choice of transport modes: “At the moment, roads take 80% of long distance commuting journeys and 87% of freight, TfN is very clear that it wants more freight on rail but we won’t get that 87%, it won’t cope.”

But Wilson said TfN is looking with Highways England and the Department for Transport on how behavioural changes might impact on demand for the strategic road network.

And he said intra-urban connections must be improved, adding there is “no point” improving rail links to Manchester and Leeds if the centres of these cities are cut off from residents in the surrounding area.

Paul McKeown, Investment Director of Network Rail, told delegates that upgrades to the TransPennine line aims to eventually increase the number of hourly passenger seats on the line from 800 to more than 3,000.

But he said there are challenges with carrying out the work to upgrade the two-track line while avoiding disruption to services as well as constraints resulting from the Grade I listing of Huddersfield railway line which it runs through.
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