Lord Adonis accuses Transport Secretary Chris Grayling of doing 'nothing' to make a new cross-Pennine railway a reality

By The Newsroom
Published 27th Mar 2018, 05:30 BST
Updated 27th Mar 2018, 13:05 BST
Lord Adonis, who quit as chair of Theresa May's infrastructure commission in December.Lord Adonis, who quit as chair of Theresa May's infrastructure commission in December.
Lord Adonis, who quit as chair of Theresa May's infrastructure commission in December.
An influential former transport secretary has slammed the Government for doing 'nothing' to make a new cross-Pennine railway a reality and accused the region's strategic transport body of failing to come up with a credible plan to link the North's cities.

Lord Adonis told The Yorkshire Post that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling was hiding “behind a wall of waffle” on a potential “Crossrail for the North”.

And he urged Transport for the North (TfN), to come up with more concrete costings and route plans or risk falling behind London, which has put forward detailed proposals for Crossrail 2 in the capital.

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TfN in January set out its 30-year £70bn transport vision, which includes plans for high speed rail travel across the North to deliver a half hour journey between Leeds and Manchester.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. Picture: PA.Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. Picture: PA.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. Picture: PA.

It will be submitted later this year to ministers, who are obliged to take the statutory body’s views into account.

Mr Grayling has said he is looking forward to working with TfN on the final business case.

Lord Adonis, who quit as chair of Theresa May’s infrastructure commission in December, urged northern political leaders to “agitate” in a “very vocal” campaign so a cross-Pennine rail link gets approved by the end of the year.

He said: “Crossrail for the North needs to happen.

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