Rail network investment welcomed

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority

Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority has welcomed today’s (Thursday 25 November 2010) announcement regarding investment in the rail network, for which the Authority has been campaigning for some time.

The Government has announced they will invest in more than 2,100 new rail carriages for Britain's railways by 2019.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has unveiled plans to modernise the rail network, tackle overcrowding, improve reliability and speed up journeys.

Mr Hammond confirmed that London's Thameslink project will go ahead in its entirety at a total capital cost of around £6bn, as will £900m of rail electrification projects on lines between London and Didcot, Newbury and Oxford as well as between Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Blackpool.

In addition to the 2,100 new carriages, Britain is also to get a new fleet of intercity trains, replacing the ageing 30 year old 'Intercity 125s' on the Great Western and East Coast main lines.

Councillor Ian Macdonald, Chairman of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA), said: “The additional carriages announced today will help to reduce the overcrowding that passengers regularly experience as part of the daily commute. Addressing this problem will be a significant boost to the regional economy.

“We will now work with the Department for Transport to clarify exactly how many of the new carriages will be coming to Greater Manchester, and press them to give us a firm timescale for their delivery.

“The rail network in Greater Manchester is largely operated by two-carriage trains that cannot meet the needs of the region’s economy and the increasing demand from commuters to travel by rail.

“We need new rolling stock now to ease overcrowding on important commuter routes - GMPTE’s forecasts had suggested that without it, the number of overcrowded trains in Greater Manchester would increase five-fold over the next ten years. Today’s announcement will go a long way towards alleviating this.

“We also welcome the electrification of rail lines from Manchester to Bolton, Wigan, Preston, Blackpool, St Helens and Liverpool, and see this major improvement as a priority.

“Electrification will increase capacity on our railways as well as making the network environmentally and economically more sustainable – at less long-term cost to the taxpayer.

“These plans will not only lead to new and refurbished trains operating on the electrified lines but will also mean that the diesel carriages currently in use will be freed up to lengthen trains elsewhere in the region, to the benefit of passengers.

“GMITA and GMPTE have been working with other passenger transport executives, the DfT and train operators to refine plans for increased rail capacity across the north west of England.

“It is important that those plans are now put into practice and that the extra rolling stock announced today, and that which we expect to arise from electrification, is deployed in places where it will best meet passengers’ needs.”