Search
Research and Reports
A database of documents and reports released by industry bodies. You can download the document by clicking on its title, and can filter reports by author or subject. If you have a report you would like to submit to the Rail Hub, please email [email protected].
-
Strategic Transort Plan: Draft for public consultation
11/01/2018Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsTogether with partners, Transport for the North says it is to “examine the case for a Northern Chord between HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail in Cheshire.” This, it says, “has the potential to support transformational economic development”. It also says it will examine the effect of connectivity improvements on economic development in advance of HS2’s Phase 2b. Given timescales, TfN argues that “now is the time to start the development of interventions that will be implemented in the late 2020s.”
-
Spring 2017 Update Report
01/03/2017Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsTransport for the North says it expects to become England’s first sub-national transport body during this year; this paper details achievements by TfN ‘partner’ organisations in its area during 2016/17, as well as commitments for 2017/18. These commitments include incorporating Rail North into Transport for the North, as well as working on options for High Speed 2 with the Department for Transport, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd.
-
Independent international connectivity commission report
01/02/2017Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsThough its focus on international connectivity means it is more wide-ranging, recommendations in this report include connecting Manchester Airport to HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and the West Coast Main Line; it also says Liverpool and Newcastle airports should have rail access; and Leeds Bradford should be served by a Parkway station. Other things called for include better East-West rail across the Pennines, and a review of public transport between stations and cruise/ferry terminals.
-
Northern Freight Logistics Report
01/09/2016Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsAmbitions in this report include achieving “additional rail capacity along both North-South and East-West axes” and that TfN and other stakeholders “play an active role” to ensure capacity released by the construction of HS2 id made available for freight. Among specific proposed steps are the provision of longer loops to allow 750m trains to run on intermodal routes; the securing of additional capacity on the West Coast Main Line and trans-Pennine; creating extra capacity on the East Coast and Midland main lines; and reopening or upgrading of lines to give greater capacity.
-
Northern Transport strategy: One Agenda, One Economy, One North Transport for the North
30/06/2016Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsTransport improvements are seen as one way to close the 25% gap between the North of England’s GVA per capita and the rest of England. “Better transport connectivity can help to promote a higher employment rate, by improving access to centres of employment, and it can help to promote higher productivity, by improving the attractiveness of an area for investment, improving access to markets, increasing the pool of workers available to work in higher productivity urban locations, and increasing the effective scale of cities and the associated benefits of agglomeration.” Although arguing for new roads, TfN also calls for “frequent rail services (including cross-city operations”, investments in other modes, and multi-modal ticketing.
-
Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review
24/06/2016Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsBeing “fragmented by poor transport links” is one of the things holding the North back, according to this report. A “transformational scenario” could see productivity climb 4% (it is currently 25% behind the England average) and hundreds of thousands of new jobs created - but doing it “would be dependent on a step change in investment in transport, alongside other factors including skills and innovation.” So argues the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, which sees the North’s four main capabilities as being in the sectors of advanced manufacturing, energy, health innovation and digital. Among rail changes mooted are improving links “city-centre to city-centre… east-west and north-south.”
-
The Northern Transport Strategy: Spring 2016 Report
07/03/2016Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsGoing “further than committed investments in the existing railway” will be needed “in order to achieve our vision for faster journeys and more frequent services” reports Transport for the North. TfN is developing options for improvements, which include new lines as well as major upgrades. These could take place on lines between Sheffield and Manchester, and Manchester, Leeds, York and Newcastle. The report says the organisation sees “transforming transport links in the North as fundamental to rebalancing the economy, driving the process of agglomeration and closing the gap economically between north and south.”
-
The Northern Transport Strategy: Autumn Report
30/11/2015Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsNew sections of line between Manchester and Sheffield, and Manchester and Leeds are among things mooted in the second report from the Transport for the North partnership - the first having been published in March. In support of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ aim to “equal or exceed the UK average growth rate,” the concept for ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail” envisages “fast, frequent, reliable and comfortable rail service”. Studies are now underway but the report says: “Emerging findings from this work show that entirely new lines, or in some cases major bypasses and cut-offs, may be needed to deliver the connectivity vision in full, and we are developing these route options.” An “initial prioritisation of options” is to be decided on by March - with relative costs and benefits analysed by the autumn.
-
The Northern Powerhouse: One Agenda, One Economy, One North
18/03/2015Transport for the North SearchResearchItemsStrategy summarising how franchises will approach the Northern powerhouse and improving connectivity in the North.
