A damning report today lambasts Network Rail - and says there is still “far too much uncertainty” over the costs and eventual delivery date of the electrification of the TransPennine route.

The Public Accounts Committee says rail passengers and the public are paying a heavy price, and questions whether the rail regulator is fit for purpose.

Its report follows the hugely controversial decision to “pause” the electrification of the TransPennine route in early summer. Three months later, following a campaign by the Huddersfield Examiner and Manchester Evening News to bring the scheme back on track, it was announced it will go ahead.

It is expected to create six faster trains per hour on the line through Huddersfield and Dewsbury, and when the work is finished the whole route from Liverpool to Newcastle via Manchester, Leeds and York will be fully electrified and journey times will be significantly reduced.

But the PAC report says there is still “far too much uncertainty” on costs and eventual delivery dates for the electrification. It could be completed by 2022, though this depends on the results of a two-year detailed design phase.

It is recommending the Department for Transport and Network Rail publish a revised programme of rail electrification improvements, including the rationale for prioritisation between projects, with updated cost and delivery forecasts.

The report also highlights severe planning and budgeting failures in Network Rail’s current five-year investment programme, and says there have been “staggering and unacceptable” cost increases in the project to electrify the Great Western Main Line from London to Cardiff, which is now expected to cost up to £1.2 billion more than the £1.6 billion estimated a year ago.

Uncertainty over costs and delivery of electrification of Transpennine route
Uncertainty over costs and delivery of electrification of Transpennine route

Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the PAC, said: “Network Rail has lost its grip on managing large infrastructure projects. The result is a twofold blow to taxpayers: delays in the delivery of promised improvements, and a vastly bigger bill for delivering them.

“The potential near-doubling in cost of the electrification of the Great Western Line is a symptom of seriously flawed control and planning. Another is the continuing uncertainty over electrification of both the TransPennine route and the Midland Main Line.

“The government has identified rail infrastructure as a vital part of its economic plans, for example in establishing what it describes as a ‘Northern Powerhouse’. It is alarming that, in planning work intended to support these plans, its judgment should be so flawed.

“Our inquiry has found that the agreed work could never have been delivered within the agreed budget and timeframe. Yet Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the regulator – the Office of Rail and Road – signed up to the plans anyway.

“Passengers and the public are paying a heavy price and we must question whether the ORR is fit for purpose.”