Westmorland and Lonsdale MP says rail plans are "worryingly pedestrian"
Tim Farron says the Liberal Democrats support Northern Powerhouse Rail, however
The Liberal Democrats' former leader Tim Farron has branded the Government's plans for rail improvements in the north "worryingly pedestrian".
The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP said the Liberal Democrats support Northern Powerhouse Rail but said the only "concrete" thing from the Transport Secretary's statement on Wednesday is "just over a billion pounds, so we can spend the next four years planning to maybe come up with another plan".
He said: "The failure of the previous Conservative government to deliver infrastructure projects like this and HS2 was utterly depressing and embarrassing, but I hope she will understand the scepticism of many of us in the north, not just on these benches, who fear this Government is being worryingly pedestrian too, lacking in the determination to deliver vital projects like these - high speed rail for the north, delivered at snail's pace, if we are lucky."
He argued: "We we will see upgrades in the 2030s, which is a long way away still, we won't actually see trains running on the new track much before 2045."
Responding, Heidi Alexander said: "We are getting on with this and we will see these improvements delivered. I don't share his cynicism that we will spend the next four years simply coming up with a plan.
"The £1.1 billion that has been allocated is for land acquisitions, it's for early preparatory works on the Yorkshire schemes. We will see delivery in the 2030s and passengers seeing benefits of some of those schemes.
"But what I won't do is make the same mistakes as the last government when it came to HS2, who let contracts before the scope of schemes had been finalised, essentially a free meal ticket for building contractors. We will take the time to do it properly, spend taxpayer money wisely."