Today, I attended the North East Mayor’s Rail Vision Engagement Event, though the Mayor herself was not in attendance. We listened to the Mayor’s objectives, such as promoting greater integration and making railways safer – and agreed with them. We were then asked to review the proposed deliverables for each of 3 tranches: 2027, 2032 and 2040. Both of these activities seemed to be a repeat of what we had already done through our response to the November 2024 Public Transport consultation (see our response here). Of more concern is that it is now more than 2 years since we first requested a meeting with the Mayor (and less than 2 years until her current term of office ends) and the opportunity for various low cost “quick wins” identified by SENRUG is rapidly disappearing. So we do feel rather disappointed that we have still not been able to constructively engage with the Mayor and / or her team directly.
