AN MP has insisted that funding for rail improvements in the Huddersfield area is vital.
Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney told a Commons debate that the Northern Hub project to improve rail services across the region was an essential project.
And he said: “Frequent, reliable, clean and affordable rail services are what are needed to be a clear alternative to the M1 and M62”.
Mr McCartney said the Hub project would allow the towns and cities of the north to work better together and drive growth by increasing capacity and reducing journey times on the rail network.
But he insisted that the whole of the project had to be funded to get the best impact, creating thousands of new jobs and drawing in an estimated £4billion of investment in the region.
He said new tracks on the line between Leeds and Liverpool, through Huddersfield, and between Sheffield and Manchester would allow fast trains between the major towns and cities of the North to overtake slower trains.
“This element is a very live issue in my Colne Valley constituency, where there are lots of legitimate worries.
“I’ve just received an email from SMART – that’s the Slaithwaite & Marsden Action on Rail Transport – and they are, as I am, concerned what effect the proposals will have on local stopping services.
“Fast trains are great but not at the expense of local stopping services – we have to ensure that there is an integrated transport system in the Northern Corridor – not just the fast services between Leeds and Manchester”.
