A Government review of transport links between the four nations of the UK has called for ways of improving rail and road services on the east coast to be investigated - but stopped short of any concrete recommendations.
The Union Connectivity Review was set up by the Government in a bid to improve transport and shore up the Union.
Now the review has made a number of recommendations to achieve those goals, saying the Government should “seek to work with the Scottish Government to develop an assessment of the East Coast road and rail transport corridor from North East England to South East Scotland, including improvements on the East Coast Main Line and the A1.”
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But while the review makes several recommendations for improvements to rail and road routes on the west coast of the country and identifies a number of problems with transport links in the North East, it has not recommended any projects to solve issues in the region.
The review also fails to rank Newcastle as one of the UK’s “major cities”.
Coun Martin Gannon, chair of the North East Joint Transport Committee said: “This is yet more disappointing news for the North East’s rail links. We’re pleased to see the importance of the East Coast Main Line recognised in the report, especially the section of the line north of Newcastle to the Scottish Border.
“However, along with the Government’s recent Integrated Rail Plan, there is no committed investment pledged to resolve any of the urgent capacity and resilience issues on the line in the North East, which politicians and businesses have been bringing to the Government’s attention for years now.
“We note that the report proposes ‘investment’ for the West Coast Main Line, but just another ‘assessment’ for the East Coast corridor – of which there have already been plenty. The East Coast Main Line in our region needs urgent investment, not more assessments.”
Jane Gratton, head of people policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Following recent U-turns on high-speed rail investment, businesses will be keen to see how the recommendations in this review deal with the need for increased capacity across the network, for both passengers and freight, and keep high speed rail, including the missing sections of HS2, alive as future options.
“Businesses are waiting for meaningful proposals and solid investment that will drive growth and prosperity in every part of the UK.”
The review says: “On rail, the East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a key strategic connection with over 20m passengers every year. Capacity, journey times and reliability are constrained by the existing infrastructure and this will be exacerbated north of York with the introduction of digital signalling on the southern part of the ECML.
“HS2 Ltd undertook a review of journey times, capacity and resilience on the ECML as part of its 2016 Broad Options Study. This identified a series of potential infrastructure improvements that would support increased and faster journeys between London and Scotland. These included significant amounts of new track north of Newcastle and bypasses near York and Durham.”
It adds: “On road, 15% of all HGV traffic between England and Scotland uses the A1, however, speed limitations for HGVs on this road significantly impact reliability and capacity. This is particularly pronounced between Newcastle and Edinburgh. The noncontinuous dual carriageway also causes safety issues on this route.
“Four sections of the A1 in England are already under consideration for improvement as part of the Road Investment Strategy, but traditional transport appraisal methods are unlikely to produce a positive business case for any major upgrades north of Newcastle due to there being relatively low traffic flows on this stretch of road for a strategic route.
“There has been no attempt to develop a business case for an upgrade to the A1 which considers the cost and benefits of doing so along the full extent of the route between Newcastle and Edinburgh. There has also been no attempt to undertake a multimodal or cross-border study which could result in much better outcomes than considering specific stretches of individual modes in isolation.”
Last week’s Integrated Rail Plan has been widely criticised by political, business and industry leaders in the North East for offering little to imprve rail links in the region.
The plan does commit to some upgrades of the East Coast Main Line but did not include the region’s main demand of restoring the Leamside Line through County Durham and Gateshead to add capacity to the line and make it more reliable, as well as opening the possibility of local transport links.
Plans to build a tunnel or bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, enthusiastically championed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, did not make it into the Union Connectivity Review.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Transport is key to binding the family of nations that is the United Kingdom closer together, so that prosperity can be shared more evenly.
“It is not good enough that certain areas of the UK thrive while others fall behind. We must realise our full national potential, and that means mobilising the resources and skills of all parts of this country.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said that “transport is devolved to Holyrood and the UK Government should respect that”.
