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The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) sets out the government’s proposals to transform the rail network in the North and Midlands.

It is a £96 billion plan that outlines how major rail projects, including HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Rail Hub, will be delivered sooner than previous plans so that communities, towns and cities across the North and Midlands are better connected with more frequent, reliable and greener services and faster journey times.

The plan confirms that the government will:

    build 3 new high-speed lines including:
        HS2 from Crewe to Manchester
        HS2 from the West Midlands to East Midlands Parkway, enabling HS2 trains to join existing lines to serve Nottingham and Derby city centres (unlike original plans)
        a new high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and Yorkshire, as part of Northern Powerhouse Rail

    electrify and/or upgrade 3 existing main lines including:
        the Transpennine Main Line between Manchester, Leeds and York
        the Midland Main Line between London St Pancras, the East Midlands, and Sheffield
        upgrading and improving line speeds on the East Coast Main Line

The plan also confirms that the government will progress options to complete the Midlands Rail Hub and spend £100 million to look at how best to take HS2 trains to Leeds, including assessing capacity at Leeds station and starting work on the West Yorkshire mass transit system.

So in total, this package is 110 miles of new high-speed line. All of it in the Midlands and the North. It is 180 miles of newly-electrified line. All of it in the Midlands and North.

The Midlands Rail Hub will allow seamless interchange at Birmingham between HS2 and long-distance services from South Wales and the South West, reducing Bristol- Manchester journey time by at least an hour.

Question is - where is the "Integrated Rail Plan for the South and West"?

Question is - where is the "Integrated Rail Plan for the South and West"?

Welcome thought the change from New St to Moor St might be, isn't it a bit of a stretch to call the interchange 'seamless'? https://goo.gl/maps/ZUuppVWzK1bCNdFm9

What's left after it's been used as a substitute for loo paper is buried in a filing cabinet in a locked basement behind a sign saying beware of the leopard!..

Richard Bowker pointed out on R4 Today that one of the reasons for cutting the Eastern Leg stated in the document was that it would cause disruption to the motorway system as it crossed it something like 13 times.  Yet he pointed out all these local improvements will mean massive disruption to rail passengers for years.

I haven't read all the info yet. Are you sure that the interchange is between Moor St and New St, because that's not what your map says.

I am afraid you lost me at "Richard Bowker".

He was criticising the government. 

.... and making the point that by "upgrading existing routes", the users of these lines would suffer years of disruption that will further discourage increased use of trains in the north.

Labour is committed to the full HS2 proposals and Northern Powerhouse rail, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

After the government announced its Integrated Rail Plan, the Labour leader said the scrapped sections were in his party's last manifesto and "that is our commitment" going forward.

I agree with you but it is possible for people to change their views. Not only possible but good and healthy, to reconsider and change your position in response to changing evidence and/or circumstance. I don't know if that's necessarily what Starmer has done in this case.

The interchange will be Moor St to Curzon St, as the map suggests. The arrival point for trains from Bristol and Cardiff will change from New St to Moor St. So changing the station will make it easier to change trains. However the interchange between Moor St and Curzon St will involve leaving one station and crossing a road to get to the other, so it isn't what I would call seamless.

I know it is all part of living, as we do, in a healthy flourishing democracy, but I do find it makes me a bit queasy watching people seek political advantage rather than just sticking to their guns and standing up for what they believe in - even if I don't agree with them.

According to the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-59309639):


Starmer was absent for the last two votes on HS2 in Jan 2018 and July 2019, but in March 2016 he was one of just 42 MPs who voted against the High Speed Rail (London — West Midlands) Bill. 

That would be because he is the MP for Euston Station and quite alot of his constituents don't like the disruption caused by rebuilding Euston station and HS2 into it.  He is doing his job and representing his constituents. 

Odd that he didn't mention that this morning when he was being asked on the BBC about his Damascene conversion to the HS2 cause?

I'm sure it's entirely coincidental.

The northern bits do not have a lot of impact on his constituency.  It is quite reasonable to support the line in principle while opposing its impact on the area around Euston Station.  I assume he would have been quite supportive of stopping it at Old Oak Common for example. 

The arrival point for trains from Bristol and Cardiff will change from New St to Moor St.

Will it? I thought the plan was for trains from Hereford/Malvern/Worcester, and possibly Stansted/Leicester, to switch from New Street to Moor Street, since these (as far as I know) terminate in Birmingham. The trains from Cardiff and Bristol continue to Nottingham/Manchester/Edinburgh and diverting to Moor Street would appear to render the trains unable to continue to Manchester (as far as I know the only one that requires a reversal at New Street currently) and would require a reversal (and associated time penalty) for the others.

There currently are no through trains from Bristol to Manchester.

Ministers strip TfN of responsibility for NPR

In a move branded ‘inconsistent with the government’s devolution agenda’, Transport for the North will no longer be paid to develop East-West links

Ministers have removed funding and powers from Transport for the North after it dismissed the government’s Integrated Rail Plan for the North and the Midlands as “woefully inadequate”.

TfN was established in 2015 to advise the government on the North of England’s transport needs. However, on the day of the IRP announcement, a senior official from the Department for Transport is reported to have written to TfN’s chief executive, Martin Tugwell, saying that it would stop paying the statutory body to develop the Northern Powerhouse Rail project.

This change came after TfN had issued a statement that criticised the IRP. Louise Gittins, interim chair of TfN, said: “Leaders from across the North and from across the party political divide came together to ask for a network that would upgrade the North for this century and in line with the rest of the country. Our statutory advice asked for an over £40bn network but the government has decided to provide even less than half of that.”

Gittens continued: “If we truly want to level up the country we don’t need words and promises. We need commitment.”

Responding to TfN’s loss of powers, former transport minister Norman Baker told Passenger Transport: “It’s surprising and looks a tad vindictive. Government whether local or national needs to be able to express its views honestly. This decision is inconsistent with the government’s devolution agenda and ultimately unhelpful. We need all sides to work together constructively for what in most cases are common goals.”

Will it? I thought the plan was for trains from Hereford/Malvern/Worcester, and possibly Stansted/Leicester, to switch from New Street to Moor Street, since these (as far as I know) terminate in Birmingham. The trains from Cardiff and Bristol continue to Nottingham/Manchester/Edinburgh and diverting to Moor Street would appear to render the trains unable to continue to Manchester (as far as I know the only one that requires a reversal at New Street currently) and would require a reversal (and associated time penalty) for the others.