I recently wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, to stress that in order to rebalance our economy, the North and Greater Manchester in particular must not lose out on infrastructure investment. I was therefore pleased to receive a reply stating categorically that claims that the Government is prioritising Crossrail 2 over Northern Powerhouse Rail are simply not true.
However, I am pleased that the Government has shown its commitment to the North through various projects to boost our infrastructure. Over £1 billion is being spent on the Great North Project, which will transform the North's rail services by 2020 and has already delivered more seats and faster journey times between Manchester and Liverpool. A £1.2 billion investment package will deliver improvements to many of our region's stations including free Wi-Fi, and will help Northern and TransPennine Express to deliver 500 new carriages, room for more than 40,000 passengers, and more than 2,000 extra services a week by 2020. There will also be major upgrades to routes between key cities in the North such as Manchester, Leeds and York, and plans are currently being designed to enable significant improvements from 2022.
As your MP, I have consistently called for more investment in our local transport and infrastructure. I have questioned the Prime Minister, held debates in Parliament, and launched a transport survey for constituents. I support HS2 to bridge the North-South divide, and I am backing the Transport for the North strategy, which has received £60 million in investment to develop plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail. I remain totally committed to the Northern Powerhouse, and working to ensure we receive more funding for our local infrastructure.
Turning to concerns regarding fare rises, I fully appreciate the concerns that rail passengers across Cheadle have with the cost of train fares and its impact on household budgets. I have written to the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, to convey to him the strong views of my constituents.
Although it may be argued that some increases are necessary, in my view the current use of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation rate (which generally tends to be slightly higher than an alternative measure, the Consumer Prices Index [CPI]) needs to be reviewed. The Office for National Statistics has used the CPI inflation rate as its preferred official measure since 2003; the Bank of England uses CPI as the measure on which it targets interest rate policy. The Government also applies the CPI rate to pension and benefit increases; so it is right to question why rail users should have the RPI rate applied to their fare increases.
Investment in our railways continues to increase as the UK meets the demand of the growing number of rail passengers. There are currently more people than ever using our railway system and passenger numbers have doubled since 1996, when the railways were first privatised. Train companies continuously state that the amount of profit made on the railways is around 3% of rail fares - with the other 97% spent on the everyday running and maintenance of the railways and services.
However, I think it is important to consider that wages are now growing faster than train ticket prices thanks to action by the Government, including the commitment to cap regulated rail fares in line with inflation (rather than the above inflation and double-digit increases which occurred under the last Labour Government), which will save annual season ticket holders £425 on average in the five years to 2020. The Government is investing in a massive upgrade programme which Ministers have driven forward, with around £40 billion being invested to the end of 2019.
