20.03.15
TfN report not full of really new ideas
Transport for the North (TfN), the body set up to identify how best to drive economic growth through strategic investment in transport, has published its strategy for the north, and though very welcomed, it doesn’t bring anything majorly new to the table.
Of course, having a few more details on potential new routes, cost forecasts and time reduction estimates are handy. But the devil, as always, is in the detail.
While the overall ambitions are laudable it is hard not to feel a little underwhelmed by the strategy. Perhaps it is just the cynicism in us old journalists, but some of the road projects are already funded and the rail schemes read like more of an unfunded wish-list.
Let’s see how plans progress after the election. We’ve already been told that to “ensure the TfN plans are carried forward, a clear governance structure and an independent chair for TfN will be in place by autumn 2015, memorandums of understanding will be agreed with Network Rail, High Speed 2 Ltd and Highways England in spring 2015 and the strategy will be updated in spring 2016”.
But funding will be a key issue, and although the current government is making promises it could all change after May.
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