The £45bn scheme to link cities across the north of England with new or upgraded lines has no convincing or properly costed plan, a committee of MPs has warned. The public accounts committee (PAC) said it was not confident that the Department for Transport had learned all the lessons from its past failures in the management of other rail projects.
Uncertainty clouds the project
The committee noted that there was considerable uncertainty still clouding the project, including journey times, capacity, exact routes, and who will build the new lines. It said it was unclear how HM Treasury determined the £45bn cap before the entire project was designed, scoped, and costed.
The report warned that the final phase of NPR, a new Liverpool-Manchester line, would be at risk if the DfT could not scope the programme within the cap or if estimates proved unrealistic. It added that this serious risk is heightened by HS2 Ltd’s responsibility for producing some of the cost estimates and the department’s poor record on rail infrastructure costs.
Underground station could add £5bn
One unresolved question concerns whether a new station is built underground at Manchester Piccadilly, which Mayor Andy Burnham has long demanded. According to some estimates, an underground station could cost £5bn more than a surface station.
Clive Betts, deputy chair of the PAC, said there was an appetite to finally deliver the transport infrastructure the north needs, but the spectre of HS2 hangs over Northern Powerhouse Rail. He noted troubling echoes of the same mistakes in loose governance that HS2 made early on. Both the Treasury and DfT have questions to answer about the project’s £45bn funding cap, he added.
Government response
A Department for Transport spokesperson said Northern Powerhouse Rail will deliver the biggest investment in rail connectivity in a generation, giving the north the transport links it deserves. They added that NPR will not repeat the mistakes of HS2, as the government accepted all recommendations of the James Stewart Review and is taking a disciplined, phased approach.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said that while the government set out high-level scope and timings, clarity on key issues is now needed. He said Burnham’s new 'No 10 North' would play an essential role in directing officials, and the Treasury must ensure fiscal devolution to allow funding for the Manchester Piccadilly underground station and other key elements.
