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14
Jan
MP questions lack of Harrogate line capacity plans in £45bn rail improvements
Harrogate and Knaresborough’s MP has questioned ministers over a lack of improvements for the Harrogate line in the government’s £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme.
The Labour government announced today (January 14) it would revive the rail investment programme, which was put on hold by the previous Conservative government in 2021.
The scheme promises faster and frequent train services across Yorkshire and the north east, including electrification upgrades between Leeds-Sheffield, Leeds-York and Leeds-Bradford.
It also pledges improvements for Leeds, Sheffield and York railway stations.
However, Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, questioned the lack of improvements to Skelton junction near York — which would help with capacity on the Harrogate line.
Both campaigners and politicians have called for a third track to be implemented at the junction to help with congestion as part of a York capacity scheme.
In the House of Commons, Mr Gordon asked Heidi Alexander, Labour transport secretary, whether the government would rule out cancelling the scheme which includes Skelton junction upgrades.
He said:
I was surprised to see in the statement and the documents circulated today there was no mention of the York area capacity scheme which would relieve pressure and congestion at Skelton junction which would improve rail connectivity across the north.
Will the Secretary of State rule out the cancellation of the Skelton junction improvements and will she commit to making sure they are part the scheme going forward and why they were not in this document today?
In response, Ms Alexander said the government was not “excluding things” from being funded elsewhere.
She said:
Can I say to the honourable gentlemen that in the announcement today, we are ruling things in. We are not excluding things from funding from other funding sources.
We will be setting out in the normal way future rail network enhancement programme funding for example. I am happy to continue the conversation with him about what further benefits we can bring to the York area. The benefits of Northern Powerhouse Rail in particular.
We will be working with David Skaith [Mayor of York and North Yorkshire] on the masterplan for York station and the massive brownfield area opportunity, one of the largest in Europe, that lies directly next to that station.
The move comes as rail campaigners have called for the £45 billion plan to invest in improvements to rail services in the north to include more trains to Harrogate and Knaresborough.
Railfuture Yorkshire, an independent campaign group which lobbies for better rail services, said there were “missed opportunities” in the announcement.
Nina Smith, chair of the Yorkshire branch of the group, pointed to the planned upgrades at York station, which she said should include capacity improvements for the Harrogate line.
She said:
We trust the improvements to York station will include providing an extra track to Skelton junction to enable a half-hourly service between York, Knaresborough and Harrogate.
The move comes amid recent debate on the Harrogate line.
Last week, Keir Mather, Labour parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Transport, said the government had not ruled out plans to dual the line between Knaresborough and York.
The line between Leeds and York line via Harrogate frequently experiences bottlenecks and delays at Knaresborough because it becomes a single track.
Both campaigners and politicians have called for the track to be dualled in recent years.
Meanwhile, the Labour government has set a funding cap of £45 billion for the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme, including £1.1 billion which will be allocated from existing budgets.
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