The Growth Plan - Rail Projects

[Nicholas Lewis]

Governments fiscal event announcement released a document called The Growth Plan which refers to specific infrastructure projects for rail the list is. Nothing particularly new other than a commitment to accelerate delivery of the projects by a radical overhaul of the planning process. Kwarteng indicates that each minister of state will update the house during the autumn over how it will implemented.



and

 

[Thebaz]

Thorpe Park - What is this development? I don't recall hearing about anything rail-related before now.

 

[CdBrux]

Thorpe Park - What is this development? I don't recall hearing about anything rail-related before now.

improving the roller coaster?

 

[swt_passenger]

improving the roller coaster?

Integrated Oyster PAYG.

But seriously though, it’s sometimes been referred to in the new stations calendar thread as “East Leeds Parkway”.

New Station calendar

Thank you to my predecessors for initially creating and then taking on the updating of this thread. This first post lists only those stations considered to have a good chance of being delivered in a reasonable timescale. I have taken the list ‘as is’ at December 2020 and will update it when...

railforums.co.uk

 

[BrianW]

Governments fiscal event announcement released a document called The Growth Plan which refers to specific infrastructure projects for rail the list is. Nothing particularly new other than a commitment to accelerate delivery of the projects by a radical overhaul of the planning process. Kwarteng indicates that each minister of state will update the house during the autumn over how it will implemented.

View attachment 121126

and

View attachment 121127

These and the road proposals released at the same time tell us a lot.

1. There are few (ten!) rail schemes sufficiently well 'advanced' to be 'accelerated' sufficiently as to have reasonable certainty of 'results' by the time of the next general election.

2. The shortness of that list shows the low priority accorded them hitherto.

3. It's shortness also indicates the low vote-winningness of rail in the government's perception of public opinion.

4. As identified by others there's no commitment to the whole of any of these, or to get spades in the ground.

5. The road schemes (86) are much smaller (eg a roundabout improvement) and more readily startable and completable.

The Chancellor's exasperation with 'planning' and 'decision-making' were clear: I wish him well in overcoming Mr/s Nimby and 'localism':

Today, our planning system for major infrastructure is too slow and fragmented.
The time it takes to get consent for nationally significant projects is getting slower, not quicker, while our international competitors forge ahead.
We have to end this.
We can announce that in the coming months, we will bring forward a new Bill to unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and EU-derived laws that constrain our growth.
We will streamline a whole host of assessments, appraisals, consultations, endless duplications, and regulations.
We will also review the government’s business case process to speed up decision making.
And today, we are publishing a list of infrastructure projects that will be prioritised for acceleration, in sectors like transport, energy, and telecoms.

Express Delivery?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Governments fiscal event announcement released a document called The Growth Plan which refers to specific infrastructure projects for rail the list is. Nothing particularly new other than a commitment to accelerate delivery of the projects by a radical overhaul of the planning process. Kwarteng indicates that each minister of state will update the house during the autumn over how it will implemented.

I am trying to remain optimistic. So I suppose this at least NOT bad news - apologies for the double negative.

 

[WatcherZero]

From the looks of it all they are pledging to do is fast track government planning/spending approvals so that the schemes can start before the end of 2023.

 

[Halish Railway]

Thorpe Park - What is this development? I don't recall hearing about anything rail-related before now.

It’s a planned station between Cross Gates and Garforth, also referred to as Leeds East Parkway. Hopefully any possessions required to build this station are also used to accelerate TRU works in the area.

 

[tbtc]

Of the projects that I know enough about to make any sort of comment, they ask seen reasonably sensible priorities to have (although “Manchester Improvements” is a bit vague, especially after all the money we’ve spaffed on that city recently, and things like the Darlington rebuild seems less of a priority if we aren’t going to implement the enhanced timetable that it was catering for - I’m sure someone will tell me that If You Build It They Will Come etc and that we should improve capacity stay, but you know what I mean…)

I suppose the other point is that at least these all seem practical improvements, rather than the government feeling they have to put some “Beeching reversal” branch line on the list to get the likes of Sir Herbert Gusset in the Telegraph excited about reconnecting Ambridge to Dibley. I’m no fan of the new regime but at least they seem to be more driven by results than the kind of cheap headlines that Johnson/ Shapps would have wanted to chase at a time like this

They still had to get in a dig about EU “red tape” of course, As if that was the reason for the failure to deliver so many projects over the past decade, and I don’t know how many times the “Northumberland” line needs to be re announced; you’d think it was a brand new electrified for track High speed route for all the hype, rather than just sticking a single 156 down an existing freight branch once an hour - it’s exactly the kind of project that heavy rail should be investing in but I fear it’s being massively oversold for the number of times that it gets brought up by government ministers looking for a nugget of good news they can promote!

It’s a planned station between Cross Gates and Garforth, also referred to as Leeds East Parkway.

Is the Plan still to use it as a layover for services entering Leeds from the west, to free up platform capacity in the city centre?

 

[wilbers]

Can't be coincidence that the A66 improvement is no. 66 on that list.

 

[Bald Rick]

Quite a lot not on the list of course…

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Quite a lot not on the list of course…

I was trying not to be negative but yes indeed.

 

[MidlandMainlie]

Are the Manchester improvements platforms 15 & 16 at Piccadilly or something else?

 

[snowball]

Are the Manchester improvements platforms 15 & 16 at Piccadilly or something else?

More likely some version of the "Manchester and North West Transformation Programme", though I've largely forgotten what's in that.

Manchester & North West Transformation Programme

Network Rail are currently tendering for contractors to undertake design development work for two electrification schemes. The lucky lines concerned are Manchester to Rochdale and the CLC line (Manchester to Liverpool via Warrington). Public domain detailed here suggests early 2030 for...

railforums.co.uk

 

[willgreen]

Is the Plan still to use it as a layover for services entering Leeds from the west, to free up platform capacity in the city centre?

Don't think so, it'll just be a two-platform through station. Platform 0 has I think allowed more flexibility in terminating services at Leeds and it was also unclear how many paths east out of Leeds were available, the corridor to York is pretty much full anyway.

 

[Mikey C]

These and the road proposals released at the same time tell us a lot.

1. There are few (ten!) rail schemes sufficiently well 'advanced' to be 'accelerated' sufficiently as to have reasonable certainty of 'results' by the time of the next general election.

2. The shortness of that list shows the low priority accorded them hitherto.

3. It's shortness also indicates the low vote-winningness of rail in the government's perception of public opinion.

4. As identified by others there's no commitment to the whole of any of these, or to get spades in the ground.

5. The road schemes (86) are much smaller (eg a roundabout improvement) and more readily startable and completable.

The Chancellor's exasperation with 'planning' and 'decision-making' were clear: I wish him well in overcoming Mr/s Nimby and 'localism':

Today, our planning system for major infrastructure is too slow and fragmented.
The time it takes to get consent for nationally significant projects is getting slower, not quicker, while our international competitors forge ahead.
We have to end this.
We can announce that in the coming months, we will bring forward a new Bill to unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and EU-derived laws that constrain our growth.
We will streamline a whole host of assessments, appraisals, consultations, endless duplications, and regulations.
We will also review the government’s business case process to speed up decision making.
And today, we are publishing a list of infrastructure projects that will be prioritised for acceleration, in sectors like transport, energy, and telecoms.

Express Delivery?

I'm not sure any "rail isn't important" feelings can be directed at a list with 10 schemes to be advanced, when the vast majority of those "rival" road schemes are very minor.

Especially as the Local Transport section has a number of rail and light rail schemes included

 

[snowball]

Many of the road schemes are not

5. The road schemes (86) are much smaller (eg a roundabout improvement) and more readily startable and completable.

I'm not sure any "rail isn't important" feelings can be directed at a list with 10 schemes to be advanced, when the vast majority of those "rival" road schemes are very minor.

Many of the road schemes are not minor. The A66 is the best part of a billion pounds. Stonehenge is a big scheme. A417 Air Balloon, North Hykeham Relief Road (completing an outer ring road for Lincoln), A1 Morpeth to Ellingham, A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbett, A358 Taunton to Southfields are all big schemes. One or two of the others may be big, I'm not sure. They've thrown together a load of schemes of different sizes. But I suspect most of them will not happen much faster than they would have done anyway.

 

[Bald Rick]

Many of the road schemes are not

Many of the road schemes are not minor. The A66 is the best part of a billion pounds. Stonehenge is a big scheme. A417 Air Balloon, North Hykeham Relief Road (completing an outer ring road for Lincoln), A1 Morpeth to Ellingham, A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbett, A358 Taunton to Southfields are all big schemes. One or two of the others may be big, I'm not sure. They've thrown together a load of schemes of different sizes. But I suspect most of them will not happen much faster than they would have done anyway.

And, importantly, they are all planned in the Roads Investment Strategy (2 or 3).

However the total value of all of them is rather less than NPR.

 

[WatcherZero]

Are the Manchester improvements platforms 15 & 16 at Piccadilly or something else?

More likely some version of the "Manchester and North West Transformation Programme", though I've largely forgotten what's in that.

Manchester & North West Transformation Programme

Network Rail are currently tendering for contractors to undertake design development work for two electrification schemes. The lucky lines concerned are Manchester to Rochdale and the CLC line (Manchester to Liverpool via Warrington). Public domain detailed here suggests early 2030 for...

railforums.co.uk

The project is the city centre junction deconfliction work to reduce delays and restore the paths for the services they cut couple of years back. Salford Central platform works are also separately starting imminently, finally.

 

[swt_passenger]

And, importantly, they are all planned in the Roads Investment Strategy (2 or 3).

However the total value of all of them is rather less than NPR.

AIUI the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham was already at the stage of the DCO inspectors report being with the minister for approval, but in June it was announced he’d asked for an extra 6 months to consider it.

So that should be easy to get back on timetable, and just sheer luck that it’s right in the new transport minister’s constituency. So it’s a case of “look at us, we’re now accelerating things we’d only just been intentionally delaying”.

 

[yorksrob]

Well, it's good that the TPE upgrade (I assume electrification) MML electrification and the committed reopenings are still going ahead.

Needed to see that rolling electrification though !

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

These and the road proposals released at the same time tell us a lot.

1. There are few (ten!) rail schemes sufficiently well 'advanced' to be 'accelerated' sufficiently as to have reasonable certainty of 'results' by the time of the next general election.

2. The shortness of that list shows the low priority accorded them hitherto.

3. It's shortness also indicates the low vote-winningness of rail in the government's perception of public opinion.

4. As identified by others there's no commitment to the whole of any of these, or to get spades in the ground.

5. The road schemes (86) are much smaller (eg a roundabout improvement) and more readily startable and completable.

The Chancellor's exasperation with 'planning' and 'decision-making' were clear: I wish him well in overcoming Mr/s Nimby and 'localism':

Today, our planning system for major infrastructure is too slow and fragmented.
The time it takes to get consent for nationally significant projects is getting slower, not quicker, while our international competitors forge ahead.
We have to end this.
We can announce that in the coming months, we will bring forward a new Bill to unpick the complex patchwork of planning restrictions and EU-derived laws that constrain our growth.
We will streamline a whole host of assessments, appraisals, consultations, endless duplications, and regulations.
We will also review the government’s business case process to speed up decision making.
And today, we are publishing a list of infrastructure projects that will be prioritised for acceleration, in sectors like transport, energy, and telecoms.

Express Delivery?

Portishead has involved 100's of documents to be produced to be submitted for various planning authorities taking time and money as well as more time and money for them to be reviewed and more and money whilst objectors used the info to stymie progress of the project such that getting to the DCO is costing best part of £30m so anything that simplifies this process has to be good for restoring your railway projects.

 

[WAO]

It's absurd that the planning and enquiry process takes much longer than the construction phase. There should be a guillotine on such stages which clearing out the EU rules will help, although it was probably the UK's rigid interpretation of these that caused the problem, a goldmine for the many
parasite "professions" that serviced the process.

WAO

 

[Bald Rick]

It's absurd that the planning and enquiry process takes much longer than the construction phase. There should be a guillotine on such stages which clearing out the EU rules will help, although it was probably the UK's rigid interpretation of these that caused the problem, a goldmine for the many
parasite "professions" that serviced the process.

WAO

EU ‘rules’ have nothing to do with it. The planning legislation is all our own work, and always has been.

no one has yet commented on the local scheme #111 ‘Aldridge Station’.…

 

[Class 170101]

Quite a lot not on the list of course…

Ely Area schemes

no one has yet commented on the local scheme #111 ‘Aldridge Station’.…

Ok I'll commentr upon it. Where is it?

 

[stuu]

Portishead has involved 100's of documents to be produced to be submitted for various planning authorities taking time and money as well as more time and money for them to be reviewed and more and money whilst objectors used the info to stymie progress of the project such that getting to the DCO is costing best part of £30m so anything that simplifies this process has to be good for restoring your railway projects.

Indeed. It's pretty insane. I paid attention to a road project close to me - the A303 dualling near Sparkford. There are 111 environmental reports, for 3 miles of road. The Cultural Heritage report alone runs to 170 pages. The planning costs (£45m) add up to more per mile than France can build the actual road for. I'm all in favour of protecting the environment and being completely aware of what may be lost, but it seems that the balance is all wrong

 

[Starmill]

Ok I'll commentr upon it. Where is it?

It's an extension of stopping services to Walsall to the next town over. Or a cheaper version a diesel train just doing Walsall - Aldridge. The line is already in situ.

 

[Class 170101]

It's an extension of stopping services to Walsall to the next town over. Or a cheaper version a diesel train just doing Walsall - Aldridge. The line is already in situ.

Sutton Park Line you mean.

 

[tomuk]

no one has yet commented on the local scheme #111 ‘Aldridge Station’.…

Yes first 'stop' on the freight only line from Walsall to Water Orton/Castle Bromwich. Along term aim of TfWM/Midlands connect to electrify it and reopen a number of stations. Stymied by the lack of capacity between/at New Street and Water Orton.

Disused Stations - Aldridge

 

[The Planner]

EU ‘rules’ have nothing to do with it. The planning legislation is all our own work, and always has been.

no one has yet commented on the local scheme #111 ‘Aldridge Station’.…

The dead easy single platform scheme they basically have the money for? Though its spend it or lose it I hear.