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Louise Thomas
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Sixteen new train stations and 250 miles of railway lines that would benefit millions of passengers are on the list of projects under threat of being scrapped as Labour tries to plug a £22bn budget black hole, The Independent can reveal.
The full list of 36 schemes includes several where work has already begun as part of Boris Johnson’s now ditched £500m restoring your railways (RYR) initiative.
The north of England and the South West are the areas set to be hit hardest if all the plans are axed in chancellor Rachel Reeves’ autumn Budget, with the long-awaited Portishead to Bristol line and the much-delayed White Rose station in Leeds among those at risk.
The chancellor announced in July that Labour would be cancelling the RYR programme but individual schemes would be reconsidered in a review by transport secretary Louise Haigh, in a bid to save £85m.
Ms Haigh previously branded Rishi Sunak’s move to scrap the HS2 leg between Birmingham and Manchester – first revealed by The Independent – “a great rail betrayal,” but now finds herself wielding the axe.
Responding to the revelations, the Campaign for Better Transport’s Stephen Goss called them “a backward step”.
“We were very disappointed at the announcement because Labour had been promising before the election that they were going to ‘get Britain moving’,” he said.
“So when it was announced that they were scrapping at the fund, which aims at expanding the railway network, it seemed backwards from what they have been promising and proposing.”
Also revealed to be under consideration is the Fleetwood railway line, and stations in Deeside, Haxby, Edginswell, St Clears and Thorpe Park (Leeds).
Most of the projects are located in the North, with 16 railway lines and five stations. This is followed by the South West, which has seen six lines and eight stations placed at risk.
During her speech in July, Ms Reeves said that only those projects that had “not yet commenced” would be cancelled. Despite this, several which have seen considerable work begun on them are listed as being under consideration for scrapping.
Even Wellington station, which Ms Reeves previously assured Lib Dem MP Gideon Amos in the Commons would not be cancelled, makes the list.
Also included is White Rose Station in Leeds, where construction work has already begun. Planning documents for the scheme predict that it would enable 343,000 trips through the station per year, and increase the number of jobs in the area by 10,000.
The White Rose project was being managed by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), alongside the Leeds Thorpe Park station, with both receiving funding from the RYR programme.
A 2022 update on the scheme from the Department for Transport and Network Rail said both of these projects were “being delivered.”
The DfT has confirmed that all 36 railway projects are still being considered in their internal review, but says those at the delivery stage will go ahead.
However, the WYCA says that it expects to receive no further funding from the department for the two rail stations, but adds that it intends to press ahead with its own funding or money previously received.
There has also been a backlash against the likely cancellation of the Portishead to Bristol line, a long-demanded scheme that has faced repeated setbacks. The project requires just over three miles of new track but without funding its future is once again uncertain.
North Somerset MP Sadik Al-Hassan said: “For years this railway line has been promised, and none the funding has ever really been put into it to actually guarantee its delivery.
“I am working with my cabinet colleagues, knocking on every door, having discussions with the key decision makers, to make sure that our government understands how important this project is in North Somerset and to local people”.
“I am optimistic that this vital project will eventually see the light of day”.
The approved business case submitted by the council estimates that passenger demand for the station would be 958,980 in its opening year, rising to 1,295,103 per annum by 2036.
Mr Goss said: “There are lots of communities across the country that are effectively isolated as a result of not having a rail connection, and with the cuts to bus services over the last decade, they’re all the more isolated.”
He called the £85 million savings Ms Reeves intends to make “a drop in the ocean,” pointing to far more effective choices for cuts.
“If you compare the rail network as it exists today between the South East and the North, it is ridiculous what people in the North are expected to contend with in terms of connectivity,” he said.
“Time after time, by both Conservatives and Labour, they have been promised improved connectivity and public transport provision.”
He added: “It sounds like Labour aren’t following through on these promises that were made, especially as they’d been criticising the previous government for not following through on them.”
Mr Goss says the success of the four delivered RYR projects makes Ms Reeves announcement more disappointing. In the four years since its announcement, two stations and two lines have been built under the fund.
Responding to The Independent’s findings, shadow transport secretary Helen Whately said: "Our economy needs towns and cities in the North of England to be better connected. But for all their talk about growth, Labour don’t seem to get it.
“The new Northumberland Line [soon to be completed RYR project] will bring jobs and opportunities to people across the North East. But Labour’s great train robbery looks set to take that from other areas.
“Worse still, they didn’t mention these infrastructure cancellations once during the election. New Labour MPs will be gutted to find that they’ve campaigned on false promises, as will their constituents.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “We are committed to improving rail connections across the North, investing in infrastructure that will drive economic growth and opportunity while delivering value for money for taxpayers.
“We will set out further details on this in due course.”
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