Sunak accused of ‘false promise’ over city rail electrification

UNCERTAIN FUTURE: The rail lines at Hull’s Paragon Station

EXCLUSIVE

By Angus Young

The Government has yet to ask Network Rail to start preliminary work on electrifying the line to Hull nearly six months after Rishi Sunak promised it would happen, The Hull Story can reveal.

Last October the Prime Minister told the Conservative Party conference he was scrapping the planned northern leg of the HS2 rail link between Birmingham and Manchester.

Instead, he said £36bn would be reinvested in transport projects across the North and Midlands, including the long-delayed electrification of the line between Hull and Selby and Hull and Sheffield.

Mr Sunak repeated his pledge when he chaired a cabinet meeting held in the Siemens rail village in Goole in February.

However, in response to questions submitted by The Hull Story under the Freedom of Information Act, Network Rail said it has yet to receive any request or funding from the Department for Transport to start initial development work on the proposal.

Today, politicians in Hull reacted with dismay at the lack of progress on the project.

Hull North MP Diana Johnson accused the Government of “leading the people of Hull and the Humber up the garden path” over the issue.

Hull City Council leader Mike Ross said he would continue to push ministers to deliver electrification.

PLEDGE: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

In our FOI submission, we asked Network Rail to explain the process involved to get work started and provide a timescale for its completion.

In its reply, the company said: “For work to be planned and to begin in the case of electrifying a section of the railway, Network Rail would initially have to receive a remit from the Department for Transport (DfT), asking us to set out stage estimates and a schedule for commencing development activities in relation to any project, including any electrification work within the area of interest to you.

“The DfT also then needs to decide to fund the proposed works specified within their remit document; this decision will be based on a full Green Book business case assessment, in line with the DfT’s fiscal and legal responsibilities for the use and management of public money.

“The DfT review the answers given in the remit response to understand the potential duration of development, design and delivery activities and Network Rail can start to plan the project and delivery of the works in more detail.

“Without the remit and the funding, which requires both Ministerial and Treasury approval, we are unable to undertake any specific projects, including electrification.

“At the time of your request, I can confirm that Network Rail has not received a remit or any funding from the DfT to undertake any development works covering the lines from Selby to Hull or Hull to Sheffield, as part of the Northern Powerhouse portfolio.

“This means that no work has taken place towards electrification in the locations you have specified.

“I can also advise that, at the time of your request, we have not written a business case but this might be necessary if the DfT instructs us to do so.”

QUESTIONS: Dame Diana Johnson MP

Dame Diana said: “Rail electrification is central to the economic regeneration of the Humber estuary. From this information obtained by The Hull Story, it would seem that a Government who previously blocked rail electrification for Hull in 2016 and 2021 is yet again leading the people of Hull and the Humber up the garden path. 

“For months since Rishi Sunak’s blaze of Tory conference publicity last October, I have been asking for some sort of start date for the scheme. Now we know why I’ve not had a clear answer from Ministers. It’s not even a question of when Hull rail electrification will happen, but still if.

“Even worse, the promise of rail electrification was a key element of selling the Government’s Hull and East Yorkshire devolution deal, promoted recently by the Tory and Lib Dem leaders of the two local authorities.

“It seems that this whole deal has been sold on the basis of a false promise that no-one should trust.”

Councillor Ross said: “We know how important rail electrification is for the region. This is one of the reasons we pushed to get it written into the devolution deal text.

“While that is still formally to be agreed, it is a demonstration from both local and central government to the project.

“I also know there is a considerable amount of work for the Government to do to get this delivered, which is one of the reasons I wrote back at the beginning of the month to the Rail Minister seeking information on what steps would take place next and when.

“This is an incredibly important issue for Hull and the wider region and we will continue to push the Government to get it delivered.”