Major funding package to improve rail services

The Prime Minister has committed to improving rail services across the north of England, which he said had been “held to ransom by a Victorian-era transport system”.

Speaking on a visit to Huddersfield in West Yorkshire after his own train was delayed, Sir Keir Starmer announced £415m of funding to improve rail links between the town, Manchester, Leeds and York.

The PM insisted the cash was “new money” on top of the investment that has already been committed to the Transpennine route upgrade and electrification.

Downing Street also said local leaders would be handed more than £1bn to boost transport, to help speed up schemes such as West Yorkshire’s mass transit system.

A new railway station in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle area, and the redevelopment of Bury Interchange are also expected to benefit from the cash.

Speaking to staff at a fabric manufacturing site, Sir Keir praised the appearance of Huddersfield Station and the countryside on the line between the town and Leeds.

But he added: “The downside was, if you can believe it, the train was late.

“That is, I’m sure for you, a pretty frequent experience.”

The PM said the Transpennine upgrade was a project that could “massively improve” people’s lives.

He added: “The impact is a human one, because there’s not just the getting to work late and the irritation of that, but there’s also the important NHS appointments, the family engagements and the funerals that people are trying to get to.

“All these things are hugely impactful on a human level that you can’t get in the statistics.”

Speaking to the BBC’s James Vincent later, Sir Keir said the £415m would offer the Transpennine route upgrade a “material step forward”.

Work to electrify railway lines running across the Pennines was given the go-ahead in 2022, more than 10 years after the scheme was first mooted by the then-Chancellor, George Osborne.

The project, which will ultimately speed up journey times for passengers, is not expected to be completed until the mid-2030s, however.

West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin welcomed the PM’s backing for a mass transit system for the region as a “game changer” that she said would “see trams back on the streets of Leeds and Bradford for the first time in 75 years”.

She added: “We have heard the Prime Minster’s challenge to speed up delivery of key projects and we will rise to that with full confidence.”

Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, welcomed the cash as “good news”, but urged the government to go further.

He called for the Transpennine line to be electrified “all the way to Hull” and for a new station to be built in Bradford – a scheme that was cancelled by the previous government in 2022.

Mr Murison said: “I think the government will allocate us more money for transport projects over the coming years.

“I just want to hear Keir Starmer give us a sign that he and his Chancellor are as committed to supporting the Northern Powerhouse and generating a more prosperous north of England as they were when they were in Opposition.”

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

Spencer Stokes, Transport Correspondent, BBC News, Yorkshire

The plan to modernise the main railway line between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the north of England and was given the go-ahead by the Conservative government in 2022 after years of delays, false starts and redesigns.

In total £11bn has been promised for the scheme with the money being delivered in funding ‘tranches’. Initially £3bn was committed, a further £3.9bn in December 2023 and today’s additional £415m brings the total so far to £7.4bn.

The 76-mile route will be fully electrified, tracks will be doubled from two to four in some places to boost capacity and a number of stations are being rebuilt.

When the work is finished trains should be able to travel between Leeds and Manchester in 41 minutes, with six services every hour.

The current operator of the route – Transpennine Express – was taken over by the government in May 2023 due to its poor performance. Since then the number of cancellations and delays have been reduced after a deal was reached with trade unions to train more drivers to operate trains.