Network
rail@bauermedia.co.uk
THE Government’s claim to be ‘levelling up’ its spending across the UK does not appear to be working for rail, with London and the South receiving almost half the total investment despite only having around a third of the population.
Latest figures from the Department for Transport, published on January 25, also suggest that passenger figures have not fully recovered since COVID, more services are late or cancelled, and subsidies to train operators continue to be high.
Freight business has also declined, although rail remains one of the safest modes of transport with fatalities steadily decreasing while the number of passengers increased.
The overall investment chart shows that the North of England, the East, the Midlands and Wales are still losing out, with only a tiny shift in their handouts over the past four years, although this may change with the £6.9 billion now committed to the Transpennine Route Upgrade, and with electrification of the North Wales Main Line in prospect.
Splitting the UK into ‘Super Regions’, the DfT records that the London and the South region has 36% of the population but received 47% of UK railway expenditure.
The money spent around London, which has one of the world’s most intensive commuter networks, might be even greater, but the 47% overall figure covers a wide area stretching across to Cornwall.
The North ‘Super Region’ covers an area that includes Merseyside, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle, but only has an 18% share of the expenditure despite having 23% of the population.
And while Scotland gets an even people-cash deal, Wales suffers with only a 3% benefit for its 5% population share.
The annual total of 1.385 billon passenger journeys made represents a substantial drop from the pre-COVID days of 2018-19, when it reached an all-time record 1.8 billion journeys. The traditional morning and evening rush hours have taken a particular
