Union Connectivity Review

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Bomag
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

Post by Bomag »

Phil wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 18:35
avtur wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 18:59
Phil wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 23:12

Both the Scottish and Welsh Governments have taken a principled stance that they will NOT build any more roads due to the effects of climate change bought on by mass car travel. If congestion is a problem then people should be taking the bus / train / using park and ride schemes is their view.

In my opinion this is misplaced, we are firmly on a trajectory of EV adoption, by the time these schemes are in place the level of EV adoption will be even higher, therefore the arguments being made simply do not add up, IMHO.
Firstly, you may well considered their stance 'misplaced' - but as residents of Sussex, what you or I may think is irrelevant. Due to Devolution the ONLY people whose opinion actually does matter is the residents of Scotland / Wales - who many in England forget do have the power to ditch such opinions by electing a party which takes a different view. Put in this way if the Scottish Government was run by the Conservatives then I doubt such anti-car opinions would continue.


The Welsh and Scottish administrations are not so timid (I don't for a minute believe that the Welsh / Scotts are any less wedded to their cars than the English), but so far the Governments there have not been punished electorally which suggests such policies might not necessarily be the as vote losing as many seem to assume.
Devolved powers are what the UK Government have defined for each area. In this case what is devolved to the Scottish Government has the same principle as what is devolved to local councils in Yorkshire - which if you include the stolen areas has a bigger population than Scotland (5.5m vs 5.45m). The UK Government now has reserved powers over transport links with UK and wider factors. So all UK residents have a valid say on the A75 if it affects the ability to travel to NI.

From the public facing evidence the stance by neither Wales nor Scotland policy on private vehicles is driven by a coherent policies. In Scotland it looks to be a combination of default anti English/Boris sentiment (chose as appropriate), prioritising SNP areas and sucking up to the Green coalition partnership. In Wales it looks different in that internal welsh issues (North vs South) and PC cooperation means that the current pause could be environmental, or it could be to re-priorities internal traffic schemes. According to my mid-Wales relatives Monmouth/Gwent and Fflint/Denbigh are seen as far to English friendly. It may be apocryphal but the WAG express from North to South was diverted onto the less convenient route between Chester and Shrewsbury as too many people were using it to get to Crewe to travel into England and not to Cardiff.

As for accountability I doubt that there is anything the Welsh or Scottish bodies could do, in terms of transport policy, which would affect the electability of the current main parties. The drivers are elsewhere.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Phil wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 18:45
bothar wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 21:23
I think the problem here is that Boris is making politics with this stuff and this isn't helping the devolved governments respond to it.
Precisely

What with emotions already running high after Brexit (where the devolved nations overwhelmingly voted to remain) considerable tact and diplomacy is needed to not make tensions worse. Skills which Boris has shown himself to lack, many, many times in the past.
Wales didn't.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

Post by Phil »

Chris Bertram wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 14:58
Phil wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 18:45
bothar wrote: Sat Nov 27, 2021 21:23
I think the problem here is that Boris is making politics with this stuff and this isn't helping the devolved governments respond to it.
Precisely

What with emotions already running high after Brexit (where the devolved nations overwhelmingly voted to remain) considerable tact and diplomacy is needed to not make tensions worse. Skills which Boris has shown himself to lack, many, many times in the past.
Wales didn't.
Fair criticism

Turns out it was N.I. + Scotland had a majority remain, Wales joined England in having a majority in favour of Leave.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Bomag wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:04 Devolved powers are what the UK Government have defined for each area. In this case what is devolved to the Scottish Government has the same principle as what is devolved to local councils in Yorkshire - which if you include the stolen areas has a bigger population than Scotland (5.5m vs 5.45m). The UK Government now has reserved powers over transport links with UK and wider factors. So all UK residents have a valid say on the A75 if it affects the ability to travel to NI.

From the public facing evidence the stance by neither Wales nor Scotland policy on private vehicles is driven by a coherent policies. In Scotland it looks to be a combination of default anti English/Boris sentiment (chose as appropriate), prioritising SNP areas and sucking up to the Green coalition partnership. In Wales it looks different in that internal welsh issues (North vs South) and PC cooperation means that the current pause could be environmental, or it could be to re-priorities internal traffic schemes. According to my mid-Wales relatives Monmouth/Gwent and Fflint/Denbigh are seen as far to English friendly. It may be apocryphal but the WAG express from North to South was diverted onto the less convenient route between Chester and Shrewsbury as too many people were using it to get to Crewe to travel into England and not to Cardiff.

As for accountability I doubt that there is anything the Welsh or Scottish bodies could do, in terms of transport policy, which would affect the electability of the current main parties. The drivers are elsewhere.
Unless there has been a new Scotland Act, roads are fully devolved in Scotland. The reserved powers are about vehicle and driver licensing, so completely not like Yorkshire at all. So the only way the A75 gets dualled without Holyrood or the Scottish Government saying so is if Johnson decides to push through a power grab in Westminster. The prioritising the A9 corridor and the NE started under the Lab-Lib Dem coalition years as there had been relative under investment in infrastructure. Not dualling the A75 or A1 is not 'Anti-English', it is that this has not been a priority for any Scottish Government since devolution and indeed was not a priority of the Scottish Office.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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exiled wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 09:41
Bomag wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 12:04 Devolved powers are what the UK Government have defined for each area. In this case what is devolved to the Scottish Government has the same principle as what is devolved to local councils in Yorkshire - which if you include the stolen areas has a bigger population than Scotland (5.5m vs 5.45m). The UK Government now has reserved powers over transport links with UK and wider factors. So all UK residents have a valid say on the A75 if it affects the ability to travel to NI.

From the public facing evidence the stance by neither Wales nor Scotland policy on private vehicles is driven by a coherent policies. In Scotland it looks to be a combination of default anti English/Boris sentiment (chose as appropriate), prioritising SNP areas and sucking up to the Green coalition partnership. In Wales it looks different in that internal welsh issues (North vs South) and PC cooperation means that the current pause could be environmental, or it could be to re-priorities internal traffic schemes. According to my mid-Wales relatives Monmouth/Gwent and Fflint/Denbigh are seen as far to English friendly. It may be apocryphal but the WAG express from North to South was diverted onto the less convenient route between Chester and Shrewsbury as too many people were using it to get to Crewe to travel into England and not to Cardiff.

As for accountability I doubt that there is anything the Welsh or Scottish bodies could do, in terms of transport policy, which would affect the electability of the current main parties. The drivers are elsewhere.
Unless there has been a new Scotland Act...
There does not need to be a new Scotland Act. The UK parliament just needs to give itself powers to act for UK wide issues. The UK parliament cannot 'grab' powers which it has allowed to be devolved. As per the A1 and A75, from the pronouncements I would suggest that the lack of investment is partly anti rest of UK but mainly marginalising bits of Scotland which don't return the right sort of MSP/MP.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Bomag wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 00:03 There does not need to be a new Scotland Act. The UK parliament just needs to give itself powers to act for UK wide issues. The UK parliament cannot 'grab' powers which it has allowed to be devolved. As per the A1 and A75, from the pronouncements I would suggest that the lack of investment is partly anti rest of UK but mainly marginalising bits of Scotland which don't return the right sort of MSP/MP.
Power grab and a constitutional crisis. Once devolved it is devolved unless you want to rip the union apart.

As for not returning the 'right MPs/MSPs', South Scotland has 16 MSPs. Of which 7 are SNP. Which is just about average for Scotland's electoral regions.

It is not anti rest of the UK or even about 'marginalising' the south. There is no explicit need for either route to be dualled. Improvements can be made to both, but very little of the Scottish section of the A1 left to dual, there is no point dualling the rest where usually you can do 50 - 60 easily, until the Northumbria section is dualled. The only reason the A75 is being talked about for dualling is the Wales/Republic route has been rendered unviable for a lot of HGV traffic by Boris Johnson.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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exiled wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 08:03
Bomag wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 00:03 There does not need to be a new Scotland Act. The UK parliament just needs to give itself powers to act for UK wide issues. The UK parliament cannot 'grab' powers which it has allowed to be devolved. As per the A1 and A75, from the pronouncements I would suggest that the lack of investment is partly anti rest of UK but mainly marginalising bits of Scotland which don't return the right sort of MSP/MP.
Power grab and a constitutional crisis. Once devolved it is devolved unless you want to rip the union apart.

As for not returning the 'right MPs/MSPs', South Scotland has 16 MSPs. Of which 7 are SNP. Which is just about average for Scotland's electoral regions.

It is not anti rest of the UK or even about 'marginalising' the south. There is no explicit need for either route to be dualled. Improvements can be made to both, but very little of the Scottish section of the A1 left to dual, there is no point dualling the rest where usually you can do 50 - 60 easily, until the Northumbria section is dualled. The only reason the A75 is being talked about for dualling is the Wales/Republic route has been rendered unviable for a lot of HGV traffic by Boris Johnson.
Conversely, traffic on the A55 is drastically reduced as Irish Sea traffic diverts to Liverpool/Cairnryan - Belfast or RoI - France routes.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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exiled wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 08:03
Bomag wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 00:03 There does not need to be a new Scotland Act. The UK parliament just needs to give itself powers to act for UK wide issues. The UK parliament cannot 'grab' powers which it has allowed to be devolved. As per the A1 and A75, from the pronouncements I would suggest that the lack of investment is partly anti rest of UK but mainly marginalising bits of Scotland which don't return the right sort of MSP/MP.
It is not anti rest of the UK or even about 'marginalising' the south. There is no explicit need for either route to be dualled. Improvements can be made to both, but very little of the Scottish section of the A1 left to dual, there is no point dualling the rest where usually you can do 50 - 60 easily, until the Northumbria section is dualled. The only reason the A75 is being talked about for dualling is the Wales/Republic route has been rendered unviable for a lot of HGV traffic by Boris Johnson.
I never mentioned dualling, I said investment in the A75 and A1. Both need better and more frequent overtaking opportunities, this could be dualling but like the A1 in Northumberland it could be 2+1, or even D2 with FOSSD. Having advised on the A1 works in the past I am aware that comments from SG is that anything north of the border would need to show a return on internal benefits only. The report I saw on the A75 was equally limited i.e. improving conditions for ferry traffic was assessed on the impact of reducing delay to local traffic.

Please keep up, the NIP etc was set up by the previous administration. There is an argument that Boris should have revoked many things before the end of transition but nothing relevant to the problem that A75, while not as bad as it was, has always been an issue. It's just that if you can reduce transit times on the A75, embarkation delays for paperwork are less of an issue.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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exiled wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 08:03 The only reason the A75 is being talked about for dualling is the Wales/Republic route has been rendered unviable for a lot of HGV traffic by Boris Johnson.
That's not quite true - the A75 has had various campaigns over the years to have it improved - it's a key freight route in and out of Ireland as a result of the crossing being so short.

The route suffers from a higher than average rate of accidents (typically as a result of frustrated car and HGV drivers overtaking platoons of HGVs travelling at 40mph because of the Scottish HGV speed limit on the single carriageway sections), as well as the road still travelling through some villages along the route, and also some unimproved junctions without turn refuges.

All these were issues before covid and brexit - the problem has of course been exacerbated by both, but Stena and P&O are trying to manage using pricing to make other routes more attractive. Stena have returned their new, larger, vessels back to their intended routes and are operating using Superfast Vii and Viii (which admittedly are fitted out for short crossings and themselves are less suitable for medium or long crossings) - but these are the constraints on the physical number of vehicle movements across from Cairnryan.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Bomag wrote: Wed Dec 01, 2021 00:03 There does not need to be a new Scotland Act. The UK parliament just needs to give itself powers to act for UK wide issues. The UK parliament cannot 'grab' powers which it has allowed to be devolved. As per the A1 and A75, from the pronouncements I would suggest that the lack of investment is partly anti rest of UK but mainly marginalising bits of Scotland which don't return the right sort of MSP/MP.
Were you not paying attention when the Scot Nats got all harrumphy over the "power grab" when the UK Government didn't devolve some of the powers that had been held by the EU after Brexit. So not passing on powers they'd never had was a Big Issue - so taking back (even in a limited, specific, and fully funded case) would undoubtedly be used as justification for independence!
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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The A75 will always struggle to justify significant expenditure by the Scottish Government, given it essentially serves only traffic within Dumfries and Galloway, or Dumfries-Northern Ireland traffic locally. Most NI-Scotland traffic uses the A76, the main beneficiaries of upgrades would be Northern Ireland and England. I doubt the SNP would overly complain if the UK Govt/NI Exec offered to pay for upgrades, the Greens might object more.

In general other roads which could sensibly benefit from the Union Connectivity Review;
A1 Upgrades, UK Govt could do the whole of Morpeth to Berwick to push Scottish Govt to improve Dunbar-Berwick.
A5 Shrewsbury-Chirk (plus A483 to Ruabon, though that's wholly in Wales)
A548 link to A55, this is other than one junction wholly in Wales. A550 upgrade to M53 could be linked to give a section in England.
General A55 upgrades, in Wales
M4 Newport upgrades, in Wales

Only the A1, A550 and A5 have significant parts in England. I think the challenge will be, as EU projects came with a big sign 'paid for with EU development funding' how does the UK Government get this ownership of improvements, rather than just write cheques, even if they are for specified projects.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Micro The Maniac wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:18
Were you not paying attention when the Scot Nats got all harrumphy over the "power grab" when the UK Government didn't devolve some of the powers that had been held by the EU after Brexit. So not passing on powers they'd never had was a Big Issue - so taking back (even in a limited, specific, and fully funded case) would undoubtedly be used as justification for independence!
Which from an English point of view would save us a shed load of money and cause the SG real financial problems - See Barnett Formula and Block Grant

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org. ... tt-formula

UK government allocations per country compared to England are : 125% higher in Northern Ireland, 121% higher in Scotland, and 115% higher in Wales. In the case of Scotland this includes a £32 billion block grant for 2019/2020 to fund the gap between revenue and spending.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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C83 wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:35 Only the A1, A550 and A5 have significant parts in England. I think the challenge will be, as EU projects came with a big sign 'paid for with EU development funding' how does the UK Government get this ownership of improvements, rather than just write cheques, even if they are for specified projects.
The short answer is that it doesnt. It can however offer to fund projects in the same way the EU did, that is to say allocate funding to specific projects such as upgrades to transport projects that benefit all the countries in the UK. The A75 is definitely one as much of the HGV traffic heading for Cairnryan originates in England. This is true to a lesser extent in the case of the A1 and there are already suggestion from both countries that Rail Freight between England and Scotland should be allocated money for development. One proposal was to enlarge critical rail freight routes to W12 gauge to allow them to transport containers 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) high by 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m) wide.

I have long held the view that we should be encouraging more use of long haul rail freight and part of that is building more Multimodal Transport Hubs. Ideally a high cube container could be loaded on a train at Fekixstowe or Tilbury and end up at a terminal in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen to be loaded onto a truck to get to its final destination
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:07
C83 wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:35 Only the A1, A550 and A5 have significant parts in England. I think the challenge will be, as EU projects came with a big sign 'paid for with EU development funding' how does the UK Government get this ownership of improvements, rather than just write cheques, even if they are for specified projects.
The short answer is that it doesnt. It can however offer to fund projects in the same way the EU did, that is to say allocate funding to specific projects such as upgrades to transport projects that benefit all the countries in the UK. The A75 is definitely one as much of the HGV traffic heading for Cairnryan originates in England. This is true to a lesser extent in the case of the A1 and there are already suggestion from both countries that Rail Freight between England and Scotland should be allocated money for development. One proposal was to enlarge critical rail freight routes to W12 gauge to allow them to transport containers 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) high by 8 ft 6 in (2.6 m) wide.

I have long held the view that we should be encouraging more use of long haul rail freight and part of that is building more Multimodal Transport Hubs. Ideally a high cube container could be loaded on a train at Fekixstowe or Tilbury and end up at a terminal in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen to be loaded onto a truck to get to its final destination
There is one major difference between EU grants and UK gocvernment grants: the EU does not have direct responsibility for any of the roads for which grants were made whereas the UK government is directly repsonsible for England's roads, but only indirectly responsible for Scotland's, Wales' or NI's roads. (ie there is no English Parliament).
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Vierwielen wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 18:34
There is one major difference between EU grants and UK gocvernment grants: the EU does not have direct responsibility for any of the roads for which grants were made whereas the UK government is directly repsonsible for England's roads, but only indirectly responsible for Scotland's, Wales' or NI's roads. (ie there is no English Parliament).
And just who has proposed that the UK regain control over the roads in Scotland or Wales ?
As I recall the suggestion was that the UK government would work with the devolved governments to improve routes important to the entire UK. This doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Completing the dualling of the A1 between Morpeth and Edinburgh seems like a good idea on safety grounds alone.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 12:07 I have long held the view that we should be encouraging more use of long haul rail freight and part of that is building more Multimodal Transport Hubs. Ideally a high cube container could be loaded on a train at Fekixstowe or Tilbury and end up at a terminal in Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen to be loaded onto a truck to get to its final destination
Well, we could have more rail freight capacity to do so if the government didn't decide to cancel the best part of HS2 and practically the entirety of NPR
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 21:34 And just who has proposed that the UK regain control over the roads in Scotland or Wales ?
A Mr B. Johnson of 10 Downing Street

https://www.business-live.co.uk/economi ... 4-18562645

To be fair, it seems to have been Garden Bridge/Irish Sea Tunnel type bluster, only without spending any money on daft proposals. Indeed, from what I could see the review stopped short of suggesting any major M4 work in Wales, rather concentrating around the M4/M5/Bristol area.
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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Boris Johnson is, day by day, being exposed as possibly the most incompetent UK PM ever. The competition has some fairly decent candidates - Anthony Eden, Neville Chamberlain and Ramsay McDonald spring to mind, and you may wish to nominate your own favourite, but I think that by and by he'll outstrip them all.

The problem is that he has been a brilliant campaigner, witty on the platform, persuasive in print when he remembers what he's writing about, an engaging personality in many ways if you don't delve into his private life and so on. It can win a referendum, it can win you your party leadership, it can win you a General Election. Which is fine, but after that you actually have to start running the show. And that is where it all turns to dust.

Johnson isn't a details man, to put it mildly. He relies on everyone else to do that, and in the sense that the PM has no departmental responsibilities, it could be worked round. But the PM needs to have at least a surface understanding of what his Cabinet colleagues are up to, and Johnson seems not to have even that. He makes stuff up on the hoof constantly, putting his colleagues in tricky positions, and often has to backtrack, which is embarrassing even for those opposed to him.

Why do I write all of this, when many of you will be nodding in agreement? Well, it's to explain why Johnson is permanently in "campaign" mode. He needs something to campaign for or against, for without that he is nothing. He is motivated by a desire to be loved by the people, and to be at the head of a popular campaign is a good way to achieve that. Just "doing the job" as PM isn't good enough, you might have to take unpopular decisions and own them. So much better to be able to blame someone else (he's far from unique here, btw).

So the business about the Union Connectivity Review is another one of his campaigns with the objective of pushing blame elsewhere for a problem that he has blown up. The NI Protocol issue is another obvious example, and his conduct towards France regarding the migrants crossing the Channel shows that he cannot conduct diplomacy without making it all about him (we should have known this from his period as Foreign Secretary, of course). Loudspeaker diplomacy rarely works well, whether external or internal.

Happily, his approval ratings have tanked recently. The Tory party has a history of being ruthless in sacking leaders who are failing, recent examples include Theresa May, Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith. They even ditched the Maggon before she could drag them down. So the moment Johnson is seen as a liability he'll be eased out. And it's hard to see anyone who could be worse at the day job than him. Isn't it?
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Re: Union Connectivity Review

Post by KeithW »

JammyDodge wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 22:01 Well, we could have more rail freight capacity to do so if the government didn't decide to cancel the best part of HS2 and practically the entirety of NPR
I dont recall any proposal for the HS2 extension to Leeds to carry freight ? Perhaps you could enlighten me ?

Northern Power Rail was and is nebulous at best. If you want a real proposal then simply quadruple the ECML from York to Darlington, electrify the Durham Coast line and build a new rail tunnel under the Tyne from Jarrow to North Shields. The Tyneside Electrics were largely converted from electric systems to diesel in the early 1960's

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Re: Union Connectivity Review

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KeithW wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 23:45
JammyDodge wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 22:01 Well, we could have more rail freight capacity to do so if the government didn't decide to cancel the best part of HS2 and practically the entirety of NPR
I dont recall any proposal for the HS2 extension to Leeds to carry freight ? Perhaps you could enlighten me ?
Like the rest of HS2, moving express services to the new line would release capacity on existing lines for more local passenger services and for freight.
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