THE Government must think again over rail travel if it is serious about helping North-East companies grow, a business organisation has warned.

The North East England Chamber of Commerce has urged Chris Grayling to reconsider plans aimed at ditching an electrification programme.

Officials say the Transport Secretary risks exacerbating a regional divide if he pushes on with his strategy to scrap electrification of lines in the North, as well as the Midlands and Wales.

Mr Grayling last month said the Government would introduce faster trains, capable of running on diesel and electric power, with more seats and better on-board facilities, in the “biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era”.

However, the minister sparked fury among business and political leaders when, just days later, he gave his support for a new £30bn Crossrail 2 scheme in London and the South-East.

The Chamber has now invited the Transport Secretary to the region and called for him to accept the offer to see first-hand the necessity of rail upgrades.

In a letter sent to Mr Grayling, seen by The Northern Echo, James Ramsbotham, Chamber chief executive, and John Mc- Cabe, president, say “the spotlight has again turned on the imbalance in regional transport investment.”

They added: “The imbalance continues to have a severe and limiting effect on the economy of the North, which serves to solidify, rather than dissolve, regional divides.

“The cancelled rail electrification programme would have provided the missing pieces on a stretch of fully-electrified way from Newcastle to Liverpool, through Durham, Darlington, York, Leeds and Manchester.

“Electrification would have been symbolic of a step change in Northern infrastructure provision.

“But this core route now faces being a bi-mode route, with inconsistencies of infrastructure evident in the need for trains to use diesel power on the non-electrified sections of track.

“Reversal of such upgrades in the North couples the long-term impact on the region’s economic potential with the short-term blow to business confidence and efforts to rebalance the UK’s economy.”

Making his announcement, Mr Grayling said the changes will provide travellers with a better standard of service, since they reduce the need for “disruptive”

wires and masts.

He added: “We are making the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era and upgrading services across the country.

“Passengers will benefit sooner and experience less disruption compared with putting up intrusive wires and masts along routes where they are no longer required.

“They expect and deserve highquality rail services and we are committed to using the best available technology for each part of the network, delivering significant benefits for those who use our railways.”