The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands, or more simply the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent services on eight out of the top ten busiest rail corridors across the North and Midlands", by developing rail services along with the required infrastructure in these regions of England. It was published by the Department for Transport (DfT) and features forewords by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, but its publication was delayed a number of times, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains the significant proviso that "in line with the Government's existing approach to rail enhancements, commitments will be made only to progress individual schemes up to the next stage of development, subject to a review of their readiness". The stated aim is to integrate several rail projects for existing main lines and some new ones, whilst driving down unnecessary costs and over-specification. These projects include, but are not limited to phase 2b of HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, the Transpennine Route Upgrade, the East Coast and Midland Main Line railway upgrades, the Midlands Rail Hub and the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy. It was published in an attempt to coordinate and sequence these and not unnecessarily duplicate work. However, the plan cancels several projects previously planned. Under the previous plans Leeds would have received two new high-speed lines, a southern HS2 one from London, Birmingham and the East Midlands, and an eastern Northern Powerhouse Rail one from Manchester. The new plan cuts off the Manchester line in the eastern Pennine foothills, and amputates the eastern leg of HS2 at Nottinghamshire's East Midlands Parkway. Instead of these new lines, the plan includes rail electrification and line speed improvements that will reduce journey times, but have only a small effect on increasing capacity. The plan has not been well received by the board of Transport for the North, with concern being expressed that assessment of benefit concentrates only on reduced journey time for passengers and does not take into account the wider social and economic implications.
Background Transport for the North (TfN) was established in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. It is the first statutory sub-national transport body in England and Wales. Transport for the North published a Strategic Transport Plan in February 2019. This fed into the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) which is the executive agency responsible for providing expert advice to the UK Government on infrastructure.
TfN published a Strategic Transport Plan in February 2019. It aimed to encourage trade and inward investment by improving links to the North's ports and airports, and faster links between the economic assets that they serve. This was to make the North a more attractive place for businesses to base themselves and to support the North's visitor and tourism economy. It also said that Over the last two decades, the North’s railway has experienced substantial growth in passenger numbers despite a legacy of underinvestment. Much of that growth has been accommodated within pre-existing capacity, but this is no longer possible on many routes, and most of the North’s key rail hubs are now at capacity. The North’s rail network lacks sufficient capacity for growth and is severely constrained by on-train congestion, low journey speeds and poor punctuality. The IRP states that some lines will be upgraded by electrification, digital signalling, updated overhead wiring and include lengthening of trains. Also, some new lines will be built and share high speed track, curtailing sections of HS2. During a debate in the House of Lords on 16 December 2021, Transport Minister Baroness Vere said that "This is a plan, and there is an enormous amount of work to do to move from the plan to the next level down – to the detail about how this will actually work on the ground. While in some places we can be very clear about what capacity improvements will be available, in others there will be an enormous amount of designing to do and engineering options to look at, particularly when it comes to upgrading lines." The budget of the plan is £96 billion, although £42 billion of this had already been committed for HS2 Phases 1 and 2a between London, the West Midlands and Crewe. In August 2019, the Department for Transport commissioned Oakervee Review of High Speed 2 (HS2), which was published in February 2020. It concluded that HS2 should be built, in full, with a couple of changes to reduce cost. It pointed out that "the primary need is for capacity; speed although an important factor in economic benefits should not be in and of itself the primary driver of decision making". Its terms of reference had asked about possible economies from different choices or phasing of HS2 Phase 2b, taking account of the interfaces with Northern Powerhouse Rail It concluded that there were opportunities to remove "gold-plating" and "over-specification".
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
