Transport for the North’s Strategic Rail Programme plays a key role in shaping and informing the fulfilment of rail-related issues within TfN’s Strategic Transport Plan and its outputs for the Region.
The Programme provides a bridge between the existing operational rail environment and the North’s future rail provision for its 15.2 million people.
The Strategic Rail Programme was born out of Rail North in April 2018. Rail North was the precursor to Transport for the North and is a fundamental part of today’s maturing and now well-established organisation.
Joining Transport for the North has provided the strategic opportunity to join up ‘track and train’, meaning train service solutions can be developed and implemented alongside infrastructure schemes. Strategic Rail takes an overview of the North’s existing rail system looking at how it is managed and operates and how best it can be future-proofed.
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The Strategic Rail Programme is key to ensuring that the synergies between the North’s classic rail network, our Northern Powerhouse Rail Programme, together with HS2 Phase 2b and Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), through the Integrated Rail Programme (IRP) are fully optimised.
The Strategic Rail Programme is helping shape the operational and future development of the classic rail network in the North ensuring new programmes can fully optimise rail potential into and out of and across the Region.
In operational terms, the Programme partners with the Department for Transport in overseeing and managing the Region’s biggest rail operators – Northern Trains Limited and TransPennine Express.
Working through the Rail North Partnership, informed by the advice and guidance of the Rail North Committee and the Department of Transport, the Partnership oversees and manages the performance and delivery targets of these operators and works to ensure they are both fit for purpose and future-proofed.
In 2020, with the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, the above work took on a special significance as both regional and national government effectively took control of the operators to ensure they could both meet national needs in providing essential transport links and have some protection against the economic effects of the pandemic. Rail recovery is now a key focus for the Programme.
A core part of the Team’s work is to determine a pipeline of rail investment for the North which will help bring rail provision into line with the Desirable Minimum Standards for performance and provision as stated in the Programme’s Long-Term Rail Strategy.
As well as prioritising the shape and focus of the rail investment pipeline in the North, working with Partners, the Programme also serves as a vehicle to bring together the organisations and bodies which together drive this work and ensure that local intelligence helps shape decision-making.
The long-term Rail Strategy for the North of England, the first of its kind for the region, sets out our plans to develop the whole of the rail network across the North of England, and is key to informing our Strategic Transport Plan.
The Programme aims to provide improved passenger and freight train services through enhanced infrastructure and radically improved rolling stock, and to support a wide programme of transformational change.
This includes working closely with the rail industry to deliver a range of infrastructure improvements, the TransPennine Route Upgrade programme, smart ticketing throughout the North and, in the longer term, working to support the Northern Powerhouse Rail Programme and the Integrated Rail Programme.
Download the Long Term Rail StrategyWe have been instrumental in bringing transformational rail services to the North of England and, working in partnership with the Department for Transport through the Rail North Partnership Management Team.
Through the existing service agreements and emerging contracts for Northern Trains Limited and TransPennine Trains Ltd, we continue to progress investment in new and refurbished trains, enhanced station facilities and faster and more tailored services to need rail needs. A key focus for Strategic Rail is building on reliability and trust to aid recovery in rail and position it as the transport of choice for environmentally-conscious travel while working to ensure future services and infrastructure can fully support economic recovery and growth.
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The Northern and TransPennine Express rail services run through 25 local authority areas, including the 19 authorities that sit on the partnership board of Transport for the North. We engage regularly with representatives from all 25 authorities through our Rail Officer Reference Group. For more information on governance on Strategic Rail please see our governance information.
Rail is an integral part of the transport network across our region. Working with Government and delivery partners we ensure a pan-Northern rail view can be taken, ensuring local, inter-city, regional and national connectivity is addressed.
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The Blake Jones review was commissioned in 2018 by the then Secretary of State for Transport and was led by Councillor Judith Blake (leader of Leeds City Council) and the then Rail Minister. It was published in 2019 jointly by the Rail Minister – Andrew Jones and Councillor Blake. The review looked at the workings of the Rail North Partnership in relation to the introduction of the May 2018 timetable
Read more about the reviewThe railway industry will be undergoing reform over the coming years. The Williams Review, which was initiated in 2018, resulted in a White Paper which will lead to legislative, regulatory and organisational change that will address the structural problems in the railway at the moment and lead to an industry better equipped to provide people-orientated, cost-effective rail services to the community in the future.
Rail Reform Priorities for Transport for the North include:
This consultation draft Long Term Rail Strategy (LTRS) sets out Transport for the North’s (TfN) vision for the ongoing transformation of the North of England’s railway, co
Long Term Rail Strategy Key Messages sets out Transport for the North’s vision for the ongoing transformation of the North's railway till 2050.
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