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MPs have cast doubt on the plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail, saying they echo the same failures seen in HS2.

The Public Accounts Committee is also doubtful how the full programme can be completed within its price cap of £45 billion. The Committee says it is not confident that the Department for Transport has learned all the lessons from past failures in its management of other rail projects.

The report says that without sufficient local funds for Greater Manchester, investment there could be at the expense of investment in another local area, which is ‘particularly worrying’ because it was the lack of ‘robust governance’ in the early stages of HS2 which led to problems later.

The Committee has also questioned why the DfT had appointed HS2 Ltd. to develop plans for the line from Liverpool to Manchester, given its track record of poor cost estimation, and said the involvement of HS2 Ltd increases the ‘serious risk’ posed to the final phase of NPR, which is when connections would be completed.

The MPs said the DfT had no ‘convincing plan’ for managing spending to remain within the cap of £45 billion, and called on the DfT to set out how it will keep Parliament updated throughout the programme. They also want to know how the £45 billion funding cap was calculated by the Treasury.

The Committee’s deputy chair Clive Betts said: ‘The government’s growth strategy earlier this year signalled that there is still an appetite to finally deliver the transport infrastructure the North so badly needs. But the spectre of HS2 hangs over Northern Powerhouse Rail. Our Committee has heard troubling echoes of the same mistakes in loose governance that HS2 made early on, and so much of the project remains almost impressionistic, twelve years on. HS2 have even been brought on board to develop NPR’s own plans. As HS2 has been a casebook example of how not to run a major project, so their involvement in NPR does not fill us with confidence.’

Readers’ comments

As I see it the full NPR programme will need supplementing by local funding given its price cap of £45 billion and local pressure for underground platforms. The Government’s January NPR announcement gently said that ‘the most our nation can afford for NPR at the next spending review is £45 billion, and designers should work with Network Rail to make sure their scheme is feasible and not over ambitious and has Network Rail support.’ As worthy projects elsewhere would be fighting for similar upgrades, one needs early benefits.  Preferably aiming to provide line capacity for HS2 trains to run to Manchester, avoiding the Stockport rail bottleneck – until a connector to HS2 is built – alongside extra Piccadilly station platform capacity. That probably requires Manchester Airport money and influence and NPR Phase2a to be separated from the Manchester Airport to Warrington & Liverpool Phase2b, with temporary or permanent rail connections to the existing Airport station. Just two extendable below-ground Piccadilly platforms and a permanent construction access tunnel would be needed to provide space for HS2 trains above and more Manchester regional services below. Trains could reverse there without causing the critical pressure on Piccadilly’s rail throat crossovers, which led to the much missed withdrawal of the hourly Sheffield to Manchester Airport services.  They could even continue beyond Crewe via Styal & the Airport.  John Porter, Leeds

I put this as a query - I am aware of the existence of a surface line from Stockport via Denton to Manchester Victoria. A part of this line in the Droylsden area seems to have been taken out. It would seem it could form the needed connection between North and South through the Manchester conurbation at considerably  lower cost than tunnelling. The recent Virgin suggestion for a direct Preston - Bolton - Salford - Manchester Victoria - Stockport - Euston service could be very useful for the new emphasis on reviving these sort of connections. David C. Smith, Bletchley

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