Transport Secretary of State Heidi Alexander stood up in the House of Commons on 14 January to announce Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), the Labour government’s strategy for rail in the North of England.
Today in Parliament
Alexander started well, reminding MPs that NPR had first been announced by then Chancellor George Osborne over a decade ago and had run straight into the buffers. This time it would be different for our friends in the north.
HS2 debacle
High Speed 2 (HS2) to Manchester and Leeds had both been promised by the previous Conservative administration, and both had been axed. The new NPR wouldn’t be HS2 re-heated. Just as well, because HS2 will have burned through at least £100bn by the time it’s completed, well into the next decade.
Be more specific
This time, the government “will invest up to a further £45bn to create a turn up and go railway along the Northern Growth Corridor of Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield – as well as York”. We are making £1.1bn available to develop NPR over the next four years. Whoa Heidi! – you said £45bn a minute ago, and now it’s just £1.1bn?
Deja vu
So, what will £1.1bn buy? This first phase “will prioritise electrification and upgrades east of the Pennines for delivery in the 2030s covering the Leeds-Bradford, Sheffield-Leeds, and Leeds-York corridors, including the stations”. Rail watchers will be aware that the latter project was announced as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) in 2011. But the electrification work is actually underway now, and it’s expected to be completed some time this year. Surely this isn’t a case of ministerial sleight of hand, blurring the lines between existing and future projects?
You can’t trust politicians
The minister had begun by saying that she “get(s) why people there are sick to the back teeth of Westminster politicians promising the earth and delivering absolutely nothing.”
Allow me to retort
Shadow transport minister Jerome Mayhew countered that the minister had just done exactly that. He’s got a valid point. Noting that the £45mn budget hasn’t been updated since a 2019 study, Mayhew continued: “No construction start dates. No completion dates. No published or costed route map. No sequencing. No idea who will pay, nor by how much”. Ouch, that hurts. Although it would have hurt more if the Shadow Secretary of State Richard Holden had bothered to show up in the Commons instead of sending his deputy.
It’s grim up north
Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron noted that trains weren’t expected to be running on new tracks until 2045. And he reminded the minister that the North of England doesn’t stop at the M62. His county, Cumbria, was another place that wasn’t even mentioned in the minister’s statement.
A mayor with clout
The minister had only one new route to announce. This will be a rail link between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport. Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is said to have held out on endorsing Heidi Alexander’s statement until the last minute. The Liverpool/Manchester announcement appears to be a concession to get Burnham onside.
Piccadilly Circus
But even the Manchester Mayor didn’t get his big prize, an underground station at Manchester Piccadilly. That remains an “option”. The money just isn’t there. Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell emphasized that the Piccadilly project is crucial to NPR. The minister confirmed that she will continue to work with the mayor on this. So long as he doesn’t ask for any more money.
Great British Railways
Heidi Alexander announced branding for Great British Railways (GBR) in December 2025. This was premature, as the Railway Bill that will create GBR hasn’t been passed into law yet. GBR is, of course, a hybrid that pleases nobody.
Rolling Stock Companies
Leaving aside some new paint jobs, what the Railway Bill doesn’t do is nationalize the Rolling Stock Companies (ROSCOs). Until and unless this happens, overcrowding will continue to be part of the daily grind for commuters.
North East of England
So what can the North East expect of NPR? Not very much, is the short answer. Newcastle is the only place that gets a mention. And this is only in the context of “regular” services to the main Liverpool/York corridor. I’m going to run through some of the projects that could and should have been included in NPR in our sub-regions:
Northumberland
The reopening of the Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington in December 2024 has been an unqualified success. The final two stations, Northumberland Park and Bedlington, are due to reopen some time over the next few weeks. But when that happens, overcrowding is going to become an issue on the already popular trains. Transport Minister Lord Hendy recently announced his “support” for extra carriages. But this support doesn’t amount to much, because he can’t direct the ROSCOs to procure new trains. Or even old ones.
County Durham
The key announcement for County Durham is the potential reopening of the Leamside route between Pelaw and Ferryhill. “Alongside NPR, we’ll develop the business case for the Leamside Line, as part of our broader plans for the North, and I want to pay tribute to the Hon Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Sharon Hodgson) who has been campaigning on this for over 20 years”. That sentence is carefully worded.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
Chancellor Rachel Reeves beat Heidi Alexander to the Leamside announcement in June 2025. This is a proposal to convert the northern part of the route into a new Tyne & Wear Metro line. With an estimated cost of £900mn, funding will come from the private sector, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the North East Combined Authority (NECA). Later that month, North East Mayor Kim McGuinness announced £8mn for design work for the project.
More information needed
So, does the 14 January announcement include the “Leamside South” part of the route? This would be a “heavy rail” service between Ferryhill and Newcastle via Washington. Well, Kim McGuinness and Durham Council leader Andrew Husband seem to think so. The map below shows the Leamside project, and its two distinct parts.
A woeful record
But the recent history of the Leamside route is one of promises consistently being made and broken. A March 2016 DfT report entitled “HS2 Engine for Growth” noted that “there are regional aspirations to re-open (the Leamside route) for local passenger services. Those aspirations went the same way as most of HS2. In September 2023, Peter Morris from North East Bylines reported on the failure of past transport plans, including those for Leamside.
Calling a spade a spade
So, is the 20 year wait for local MP Sharon Hodgson finally over? Sharon congratulated the minister on her statement, but noted that “we are a little way off spades in the ground”.
Don’t buy your season ticket just yet, Sharon.
Tees Valley
So, what did Heidi Alexander promise for the Tees Valley as part of NPR? It didn’t even get a mention. Locals are waiting for existing projects to come to fruition, notably improvements to Eaglescliffe and Darlington railway stations. The Eaglescliffe project was meant to be completed in mid-2025, but the work is nowhere near done. It’s a similar story over at Darlington, where the target date of December 2025 has been and gone, with the job now expected to be completed in May 2026.
Promises, promises
The good news is that these improvements are actually taking place. Let’s take a look at some of the projects that could have announced as part of the NPR:
A completely new service
In January 2024, as part of his re-election campaign, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen promised a direct rail link between Hartlepool and Darlington. Well, as Heidi Alexander might have said, so much for election promises. And will the five major towns in the Tees Valley get electric trams, another election promise? Heidi says no.
New trains
The Tees Valley trains operated by Northern are some of the oldest on the Great Britain network. These Class 156 and 158 units first came into operation 40 years ago. Northern tendered for replacements in January 2025, with the first new trains expected in 2030. Expect the usual delays though.
Extended platforms
Take care when alighting TransPennine Express trains at Redcar or Yarm. The platforms aren’t long enough to take all of the carriages, so you need to ensure that you are in the correct part of the train. The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is working on proposals to fix this, but no funds have been allocated yet.
Victorian values
Similarly, if you’re getting off at Seaton Carew, ensure that you exit from the door next to the “Harrington Hump”, otherwise it’s a steep drop down to the abnormally low platform. This problem has been ongoing since the station was built at the end of the 19th Century. A search of the archive hasn’t revealed whether Benjamin Disraeli mentioned Seaton Carew in his NPR announcements.
