Downgrade: Freight Trains

downgrade: If the plan is put in place, tunnels will not be made big enough to carry modern freight trains and not enough additional track will be laid to allow fast trains to overtake slow services, according to The Guardian. It will be a downgrade of another downgrade, according to the shadow rail minister, Rachael Maskell, who said shewas passed information from well-placed sources. In recent briefings, Department for Transport officials have told stakeholders that its Board Investment and Commercial Committee BICC has recommended to Chris Grayling that the 76-mile Trans Pennine route between Leeds and Manchester should not be fully electrified. Reliability and capacity has been taken off the table, she said, accusing Grayling of ruining all of the Trans Pennine ambition. Demand for northern freight transport is also expected to increase, particularly if Brexit pushes ships away from the Dover crossing and up to ports on the Humber and in north-east England. If Grayling follows the advice, critics warn it would undermine the government's oft-stated claim that the 2.9bn upgrade would deliver faster, longer, more frequent and more reliable services across the north of England, from Newcastle, Hull and York towards Manchester and Liverpool via Leeds . Millions of passengers use the key northern route across the Pennines and passenger numbers are expected to double over the next 20 years. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.