16.11.15
Four tracks needed for TransPennine route improvement – Alex Hynes
Improving the TransPennine route in the long term can only be achieved by four-tracking – “otherwise you are always going to compromise”, says Alex Hynes, managing director of Northern Rail.
During the panel discussion at RTM’s TransCityRail North on 13 November, Hynes noted that improving the route will deliver a better two-track railway which will help in the short and medium term. “[But] it will not help us in the long term,” said Hynes. “How do you create great local rail services, and great inter-city services? You separate them out, which means you need other track: a second line or a new line. You need four tracks, otherwise you are always going to compromise.”
He added that there are ambitions to make the north one of the best regions in the world. “So we’ll have our own high-speed line, thank you, from port to port. And we’ll be able to move round this region like people already move round Kent.”
He also said that ultimately passengers don’t want new steel structures across railway lines – they want more frequent, faster journeys. He said electrification was the means to that, not an end in itself, and so it was sensible to consider other journey upgrades alongside electrification.
Graham Botham, strategy & planning director for the north at Network Rail, said that through the Transport for the North partnership, Network Rail with HS2 are looking at real concepts now as to what HS3 could and should look like.