Integrated Rail Plan
The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands or more simply, the Integrated Rail Plan, is a United Kingdom government proposal published on 18 November 2021. It aims to deliver "increased capacity, faster journeys or more frequent services on eight out of the top ten busiest rail corridors across the North and Midlands", by developing rail services along with the required infrastructure in these regions of England. It was published by the Department for Transport and features forewords by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, but its publication was delayed a number of times, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It contains the significant proviso that "In line with the Government's existing approach to rail enhancements, commitments will be made only to progress individual schemes up to the next stage of development, subject to a review of their readiness." A Technical Annexe was published in January 2022. A correction slip was issued March 2022.
The stated aim is to integrate several rail projects for existing main lines and some new ones, whilst driving down unnecessary costs and over-specification. These projects include, but are not limited to phase 2b of HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail, the Transpennine Route Upgrade, the East Coast and Midland Main Line railway upgrades, the Midlands Rail Hub and the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy. It was published in an attempt to coordinate and sequence these and not unnecessarily duplicate work. However, the plan cancels several projects previously planned. Under the previous plans Leeds would have received two new high-speed lines, a southern HS2 one from London, Birmingham and the East Midlands, and an eastern Northern Powerhouse Rail one from Manchester. The new plan cuts off the Manchester line in the eastern Pennine foothills, and amputates the eastern leg of HS2 at Nottinghamshire's East Midlands Parkway. Instead of these new lines, the plan includes rail electrification and line speed improvements that will reduce journey times, but have only a small effect on increasing capacity.
The plan has not been well received by the board of Transport for the North, with concern being expressed that assessment of benefit concentrates only on reduced journey time for passengers and does not take into account the wider social and economic implications.
Background
Transport for the North was established in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. It is the first statutory sub-national transport body in England and Wales. Transport for the North published a Strategic Transport Plan in February 2019. This fed into the National Infrastructure Commission which is the executive agency responsible for providing expert advice to the UK Government on infrastructure.TfN published a Strategic Transport Plan in February 2019. It aimed to encourage trade and inward investment by improving links to the North's ports and airports, and faster links between the economic assets that they serve. This was to make the North a more attractive place for businesses to base themselves and to support the North's visitor and tourism economy. It also said that
The IRP states that some lines will be upgraded by electrification, digital signalling, updated overhead wiring and include lengthening of trains. Also, some new lines will be built and share high speed track, curtailing sections of HS2. During a debate in the House of Lords on 16 December 2021, Transport Minister Baroness Vere said that "This is a plan, and there is an enormous amount of work to do to move from the plan to the next level down – to the detail about how this will actually work on the ground. While in some places we can be very clear about what capacity improvements will be available, in others there will be an enormous amount of designing to do and engineering options to look at, particularly when it comes to upgrading lines." The budget of the plan is £96billion, although £42billion of this had already been committed for HS2 Phases 1 and 2a between London, the West Midlands and Crewe.
In August 2019, the Department for Transport commissioned Oakervee Review of High Speed 2, which was published in February 2020. It concluded that HS2 should be built, in full, with a couple of changes to reduce cost. It pointed out that "the primary need is for capacity; speed although an important factor in economic benefits should not be in and of itself the primary driver of decision making". Its terms of reference had asked about possible economies from different choices or phasing of HS2 Phase 2b, taking account of the interfaces with Northern Powerhouse Rail It concluded that there were opportunities to remove "gold-plating" and "over-specification".
In December 2020, the National Infrastructure Commission's "Rail Needs Assessment for the Midlands and the North - Final report" was published. This concluded that
The government's view as stated in the IRP, is that the cost of the full "baseline + 25%" option at £108bn is not affordable but it could afford more than the £86bn cost of the budget option. It promises £96bn, although only £42bn of this is money not previously allocated.
Details
HS2
The document specifies that HS2 will be built from Crewe to Manchester, and from Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway, but not from the East Midlands to Leeds. It thus significantly alters the previous HS2 programme, including curtailing much of the eastern leg and reducing HS2 to a main high speed spine, from London via Birmingham to the North West of England – to a point south of Wigan. There will be branches onto existing conventional lines in the Midlands and the North West. There are no branches to Southern England destinations. HS2 will then parallel the conventional West Coast Main Line with connecting branches to it at four points. HS2 below Birmingham is flanked by the Chiltern Line and West Coast Main Line.Nine stations will be served directly by HS2 track, with most destinations using HS2 track, being off the spine. The stations served directly by HS2 track are:
- London Euston;
- Old Oak Common;
- Birmingham airport;
- Birmingham Curzon Street;
- East Midlands Parkway;
- Warrington Bank Quay Low Level;
- Manchester Airport High Speed ;
- Manchester Piccadilly;
- Wigan North Western.
Additions and omissions to HS2
Emphasis is placed on improved journey times, but the timings given in the plan are said to be unduly optimistic according to one authoritative source.
The plan adds the centres of Warrington, Derby and Nottingham to HS2. The existing stations at Derby and Nottingham will be served by HS2 trains entering the cities on conventional tracks from East Midlands Parkway. A link is introduced from HS2 to Liverpool via a section of new HS2 line from the reinstated low-level platforms at Warrington Bank Quay and onwards via upgraded sections of the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway to Ditton junction where it joins the current line to Liverpool Lime Street. NPR and HS2 will share a west to east speed-limiting, curvaceous, high-speed track from Warrington to Manchester through Millington, where there will be a junction with the HS2 line to the south.
The Liverpool to Birmingham route was omitted from the initial HS2 plan, which the IRP maintains. Leeds and Newcastle are to have reduced journey times to London and Birmingham using the conventional East Coast Main Line. The plan does not provide for trains operating between London and the large cities of Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle using HS2. These cities will use the upgraded Midland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line, with Leeds and Newcastle having longer journey times to London than with the previous HS2 proposal, and Sheffield equalling HS2 journey times. However, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield will use the HS2 section from East Midland Parkway station to for services to Birmingham.
The main losers from the changes are those to the east of the Pennines in Yorkshire and beyond. Despite the notional emphasis on increased capacity, the metrics in the plan are mostly about journey time, and the section on freight is relatively brief. An example of the lack of detail on capacity increases is the statement "If a third track is delivered between Huddersfield and Marsden in the first phase of NPR, then it would be possible to introduce an hourly off-peak freight path before the rest of the NPR infrastructure and services are in place". The typical journey time between London and Leeds is given as improving from 133minutes to 113minutes compared to the full HS3 time of 81minutes, the time between London and Sheffield is given as improved from 116minutes to 87minutes, and between London and York from 112minutes to 98minutes. The capacity of the routes will not be improved to the extent that would have been the case under the previous plan. Newcastle, Liverpool and Hull also miss out. Currently the Birmingham to Newcastle journey time is given as 206minutes with an improvement only to 167minutes compared to 117minutes under the full HS3 scheme. Liverpool currently has parity with adjacent Manchester in journey times to London, the two cities being equidistant from it. The initial HS2 plan put Liverpool about half an hour slower to London than Manchester. The new plan shows a current time from London to Liverpool as being 132minutes. The HS3 plan quoted 94minutes, and under IRP 92minutes, a small improvement. The plan states that other schemes such as further electrification to Hull will depend on the results of work on how best to take HS3 services to Leeds.