Railways: North of England

(asked on 25th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has he made of the effect of reductions in the level of Government funding for Transport for the North's funding on rail services in the North.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 28th January 2021

The Rail North Partnership Grant that Transport for the North receives from the Department will continue unchanged in the next financial year. In addition, to date, over £100 million has been spent on the Northern Powerhouse Rail development, with at least another £75 million next year. The Department and Transport for the North are currently working closely together to develop a revised Strategic Outline Case for Northern Powerhouse Rail, which is due to be submitted in 2021.

The most recent allocation of core funding to Transport for the North will enable the organisation to continue to play a valuable role in delivering its statutory functions of developing a transport strategy for the region. The Department will continue to work with Transport for the North and other organisations across the north of England to achieve our shared ambition of world-class infrastructure in the region.

The Spending Review settlement includes funding for key transport infrastructure projects and programmes in the North, and the Spending Review also demonstrated our commitment to accelerate projects in the North. Only a few days ago we announced £34 million to rapidly progress plans to reopen the Northumberland line between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ashington, which closed to passengers in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts.

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