Transport body Transport for the North’s (TfN) board members have outlined the organisation’s key priorities to enable economic growth and levelling up across the North, in a letter to the new prime minister Liz Truss.
TfN claims that both major projects, such as Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2, and smaller-scale local improvements are needed.
The letter sets out both short- and medium-term measures that it claim would provide the foundation for a strong economic recovery in the North.
According to TfN, the following actions are essential and could be delivered immediately: government confirmation that rail fares will not rise, even with inflation; a £2 cap on bus fares; additional financial support for train operating companies (TOCs); and further expansion of recovery funding to support bus services in local communities for an additional six months (until September 2023).
The body also highlights an urgent need to train and recruit train drivers.
Lord McLoughlin, chair of Transport for the North, said: “Millions of people across the North rely entirely on public transport and are at real risk of further disadvantage.
“In recent months, the North has led the recovery of rail patronage and accepted tough compromises to service patterns to keep our transport networks operational.
“Without further support, a further decline in confidence and sense of managed decline feels inevitable and cannot be allowed to occur.
“We have developed clear and agreed plans for the network, costed at £43bn, including our preferences for a mix of new lines and major upgrades as a network spanning from Liverpool in the west to Hull in the east, and from Newcastle in the north to Sheffield in the south.
“Confirmation in the September budget will send a clear signal to the North about the government’s intentions to reverse decisions taken in the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), including the Eastern Leg of HS2.
“The Transport Select Committee concluded that the proposals published in the IRP fail to achieve the long-term step change for the rail network across the North.”
