PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Selby-Hull Railway Line: Electrification (17 November 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the rejection of the proposal fort electrification of the Selby to Hull railway line on the Government's plan for a Northern Powerhouse.

Asked by:
Karl Turner (Independent)

This Government is committed to delivering the Northern Powerhouse; it remains central to our plans to build an economy that works for all. This is why in previous rounds of Local Growth Deals we have invested £2.8 billion in Northern Powerhouse regions. This includes £863.8 million for the Local Enterprise Partnerships that cover Hull and Selby as follows: £113.6 million for the Humber, £122.2 million for York, North Yorkshire and East Riding, and £628 million for Leeds City Region.

The train operators that serve Hull are planning to deliver a range of benefits for passengers: new rolling stock, faster journey times, and improvements to Hull station.

Due to bi-modal trains that will be built in the North East, these benefits can be delivered without the need for electrification. This will mean better journeys for passengers without having to wait for an electrified route and will avoid the inconvenience this would cause. A direct service to Hull on the Trans Pennine Express Network will remain in place.

The Arriva Rail North franchise, which started in April, has committed to upgrading the Hull-Doncaster-Sheffield route to a new high-quality ‘Northern Connect’ service. There will be new or refurbished trains on these longer-distance services, with faster journeys and stations staffed daily, with catering services and free Wi-Fi at each one.

Passengers travelling to Hull and to East Riding will benefit from other improvement including Virgin Trains East Coast running faster services when their new fleet of Azuma trains are introduced in 2018, taking up to 6-7 minutes off the route from London to Hull.

First Hull Trains recently announced a £60 million investment in five new AT300 bid-mode trains of five carriages each. These will take advantage of the existing electrified East Coast line and then continue on to Hull via Selby.

We are determined to strengthen transport links across Northern towns and cities, so that people have greater choice and flexibility over the places they choose to work and live.

We have created Transport for the North (TfN) to develop transport plans that drive economic growth. We have committed £50 million over this parliament and are working to put the organisation on a statutory footing, so that TfN can effectively deliver its objectives.

We are also investing £13 billion in transport in the North during this parliament, to take forward key projects in the Northern Powerhouse.

Answered by:
Andrew Percy (Conservative)
1 December 2016