Peer’s anger as hopes of extra train carriages derailed

AN Oldham peer has hit out at coalition plans to block more than 100 extra train carriages bound for the north, saying it is both passenger and environmentally unfriendly.

Lord Davies of Oldham said the Government should honour the commitments made by Gordon Brown for an extra 1,300 train carriages across the country if it was serious about reducing carbon emissions. Speaking in the House of Lords to Tory Government whip Lord Attlee he said: “Will he confirm that in striving for a greener economy, it ill behoves the Government to cut the number of new carriages to be made available to Thameslink and the carriages that would therefore become available to the hard-pressed North-West railway system?

“Does he recognise that cutting back on rail transport will produce discomfort for passengers and do nothing to reduce carbon?”

Lord Attlee said the Government takes its environmental responsibility “very seriously.”

Of the 1,300 carriages promised 647 have either been brought in or are on order. The rest of that order has been paused, after the Department for Transport was ordered to slash £683m from its budget by the end of March — part of £6.2bn of overall savings.

Northern Rail — which operates local and interurban services across the area- was due to receive 106, with a further 24 allocated to TransPennine Express. Only 18 of Northern’s carriages have been delivered or ordered — and none of those due to TransPennine Express —which means 112 appear to have been lost to the region.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said: “This means that the people of Saddleworth will carry on being treated like sardines for the foreseeable future.

“It is folly as the investment is capital which generates growth and doesn’t cut the deficit by anything like the equivalent revenue expenditure.”