MediaResponding to the government announcing £415 million for the electrification of the TransPennine rail route, Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade, said:
“This funding is obviously welcome news, but the announcement demonstrates our feast and famine approach to rail electrification.
“Every year for the last fifty years, Germany has electrified roughly 200 kilometres of railway while Britain has taken a boom-and-bust approach with no electrification taking place in some years. This has made electrifying our railways around three times more expensive than in Germany. Instead of building up a skills base and learning from past mistakes, Britain is constantly starting from scratch.
“To bring down costs, the government should commit to a rolling programme of investment in rail electrification. Instead of funding electrification on a project by project basis, the Chancellor should provide a consistent yearly budget for rail electrification. To speed up delivery, Network Rail should be given full business case approval powers to choose which projects to spend it on.”