HS2, Handsacre, What Will Labour Do?
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
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Handsacre, End of the line for HS2: • Handsacre, The End of ...
#HS2 #Labour #GeneralElection
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Great video as usual, I desperately hope that enough people within the government will see sense and we'll at least get Phase 2a. The fact that Network Nothing is still being kicked around at this point is ridiculous.
Rob here, there will still need to be more platforms at Piccadilly to accommodate the extra trains ,so I hope the HS2 station gets built at least. Getting to Crewe is a must, the WCML will not cope with all the open access as well. Nice video
All the new open access proposals of late are current and potential operators bidding on a small number of new paths which will be available in the future. Only a few will actually come to pass.
no need for open access if it's all going to go under one umbrella again
@@EE16SVT-s3u That's counter to the trends Europe has been seeing for successful service competition, and by the nature of access rights it legally won't happen. Nor have Labor proposed such radical changes as to overturn those conditions; so open access operators will be there to stay for the long term
@@andrewreynolds4949 irrelevant whats happening elsewhere, its here that matters
Your natural speaking voice,, not reading from a script, is so much more relaxing, thank you. Thank you also for a concise reasoning, much appreciated.
Excellent video as always, and you rightly point out the "British disease " of penny-pinching and not future-proofing major projects and then regretting it years down the road when the cost of upgrading what could have been preemptively done now has skyrocketed.
Much as I think the Handascre connection to the WCML slow lines is yet more " let the future take care of itself" short-termism, what if there were crossover connections between the fast and slow lines just a little beyond the connections from HS2? Yes, it's a speed restriction bottleneck forever, but better than nothing?
If Labour won't build HS2 to Crewe then it should revert back to the fast line connection. Someone who worked on HS2 said building the fast line connection would be any more disruptive than the slow line connection. But even with the fast line connection long term capacity will still be compromised.
Adding switches from slow to fast just adds conflicts which still impacts capacity.
The two grade separated junctions and the spur for 2a is the best option because it allows for the north to get benefits before a line to Crewe is built
My prediction is that, following Juergen Maier's review, Handsacre will be built with a slow line connection that only gets a very limited service (e.g. 3tph - 2 to Manchester, 1 to Liverpool/Glasgow dividing at Crewe) until phase 2 (which will be called something different by then) is completed.
Fingers crossed
Phase 2a to Crewe just makes so much sense that I think we have to hope it will be reinstated. Really significant Speed & Capacity benefits. I think the headline costs and longer lead times for the manchester leg will put them off though given the messaging So far about appetite for spending. In some ways I could see the first section of the Eastern leg being more important than the Manchester leg because it would open up more connectivity benefits and journey opportunities. Would cost a really significant amount of money though.
Very good summary. I agree Crewe is vital to make HS2 worthwhile. Also to Leeds. Wonder what Labour will do there?
A long-distance observer from Picton, South Island, New Zealand.
Rename it to somethin West to East Midlands high speed railway?
Three years ago the Integrated Rail plan was clear. The eastern leg of HS2 is *dead.* It mentions that upgrading the MML and ECML to 140mph will give the same journey times to Sheff and Leeds from London as HS2 as these line are a shorter route.
In September 1991, *32 years ago,* a train was given the ECML to run at up to 140mph completing the London to Edinburgh journey in 3 hr 29 min. A record which still stands. *Faster* than what HS2 would do it. That was on a line full of bottlenecks which reduced speeds greatly in some sections. Remove the bottlenecks, which need removing anyhow, have the latest signalling and faster trains then even faster again. Things have moved on in 32 years.
@@johnburns4017 It needs in-cab signaling which is being rolled out so slowly on the ECML.
@@mikelucas3746
A few bottlenecks are still there needing attention.
Thanks for this helpful explainer!
Glad it was helpful 🙂
It will be interesting to see what the plan will be now. Great video
Thanks Simon. Hopefully we'll hear something within the next 8-12 months
Thank you for this. Labour had to be incredibly careful what they said before the election otherwise the Tories and their media supporters would have jumped on HS2 as an example of how Labour would waste all our money. I cannot see how 2a would not be built as it's vital not only for high speed rail but also to free up freight capacity because of the 2 track section at Shugborough Tunnel. There's a certain irony that Shugborough was built to ensure a NIMBY landowner's view was not spoiled, much as HS2 is doing the same for afluent counties north of London, which has added so much to the cost.
The initial HS2 bill allowed for the grade separated Junction onto the fast lines at Handsacre. When the bill for the Line to Crewe was passed that Junction was replaced by a much cheaper connection to the slow lines at Handsacre as there would not be many trai s scheduled to use it. This change did indeed save a lot of money. Sadly when the Crew leg was scrapped this was not recognised by the decision makers in Downing Street. The currently authorised slow line connection is a severe constraint on capacity.
@@Jamie92208 someone I know who worked on the project argued that the fast line junction they had originally planned would've actually been relatively straightforward to deliver. Without Phase 2a the slow line connection is unworkable. It probably would be best to do away with Handsacre and build it to Crewe. They could perhaps leave passive provision.
The comparison wasn't made because the Sunak government was just looking for a reason to scrap the northern leg of HS2 they just didn't care. What I don't understand is why the plan wasn't just to delay any further development past Handsacre and put building the northern leg to Crewe and Manchester on hold. Obviously I think reason was political, to potentially win Tory held seats that objected to HS2. That didn't happen anyway so another failure of the Sunak government. I hope the leg to Manchester is reinstated, even if it's not until the economy is in a better position so we can afford to build it. The North (and Midlands) need hope not just empty rhetoric.
@@mattpotter8725
HS2 ran away with money, it was, and is, a non-ending upward spiral, so HS2 had to be binned. Enough was enough. The 1st phase only survived because some sections were in advanced construction - others said only keep the London-Aylesbury section merging it with an upgraded Chiltern and remove WCML bottlenecks which will give roughly the same outcome.
The leg that is near impossible to financially justify is the Crewe to Manchester leg, when Manchester already has a straight dedicated WCML spur to Crewe, in which that leg can also be improved.
Only when economies are buoyant you spend on the likes of HS2. Sunak had other basic and essential priorities to spend on rather than a rail line between cities that already had fast trains between them.
@@johnburns4017 I'm sorry but this is just a whole load of bs that if held to nothing would be built. I do agree with you that spending on the project had spiralled out of control and tough decisions needed to get made, but that was mainly due to political incompetence and choices that were made for the project, as well as portraying it to the public as being on journey time to London rather than what it was actually about, building a modern high speed railway that took high speed trains off the existing network to increase capacity.
You are right that the first leg was already well into construction and couldn't be cancelled, but it shouldn't have been built from London going northwards but from the north going south. And even if this was built bit by bit, as the country could afford it, we need a rail network just like all modern forward thinking European countries of have, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, there list goes on, but just like it took decades to build the high speed link from the channel tunnel to London rail projects in this country never seem to be a priority, it's one thing that holds this country back economically.
You talk about HS2 being economically justifiable and you mention a lot of "merging" with existing lines, but this is exactly the issue that was needed to be avoided. It all sounds very plausible and I'm sure you believe it, but I think it would have been very difficult, if not impossible to implement in this way without affecting existing services on those lines. Maybe in the short term this is an improvement, but it's just shifting the problem down the line (no pun intended).
You may be right about the section from Crewe to Manchester, but one of the major bottlenecks that got canned was the section before that around the Stafford-Stoke on Trent area and that putting HS2 trains onto the WCML at Handsacre will actually make the problem worse with high speed trains mixing with slower, more local trains, again the capacity just isn't there.
You seem to have given some thought to the problem, more than most, but I do wonder if you've just bought into all the right wing think-tanks that push out that the country can't afford this or that. If it can't be built in one go do it bit by bit like they do in France or Spain. You just can't keep on upgrading the existing infrastructure forever with a growing population and growing demand, it just doesn't work.
I reckon they will build to Crewe and then build NPR from Liverpool through to Leeds which means the HS2 part between Manchester Airport and Manchester gets built under a different name with only the gap between Manchester Airport and Crewe to follow further into the future….
Although it's still a long way off, I would like to see consideration given to introducing Japan's Linear Shinkansen to the UK.
Shinkansen trains have no in-built crash safety. It lets them accelerate faster, but requires the replacement of all level-crossings to allow safe operations.
@@domtweed7323Shinkansen do have in-built crash safety that's particularly designed to bring them to a stop during a natural disaster such as the 2011 tsunami. The latest shinkansen also have onboard batteries to allow them to continue to the nearest station to allow the passengers to evacuate safely.
@@B-A-L Sorry ,I meant that the carriages aren't hardened against collisions. If a Shinkansen runs into another train it would be an absolute massacre.
Be that's okay, cause it keeps the trains lightz and the whole system is designed to make a collision between trains (and other vehicles) extremely unlikely.
I was OK with having some cuts from the original HS plans, but removing Manchester from the final project is absolute MADNESS!
I am not an expert on the traffic between Crewe and Manchester, but if we get HS2 at least to Crewe, it would look much less embarassing than what is currently proposed.
Brilliant report let’s hope labour do as you suggest.
The slow line connection is nonsensical for a high speed rail network
Except for overnight freight train services.
Ah, but remember this is "Grate" Britain!!
Thank you for this Chris. Personally I would choose Phase2a and the WCML grade separated at Handsachre link...both ! Some HS2 fans are discussing having upgraded 180mph Pendalinos sharing HS2 track also. Cheers.
I would like to address the Pendolino proposal at some stage.
@@Rail_Focus it's certainly interesting but also the pendos are already over a decade old at the youngest and it's essentially introducing mixed traffic to what's supposed to be a high capacity line.
but it's still fun to wonder.
@@thomasgray4188yes but actually is an element interim solution until the government actually reinstates the HS2 legs in full
Thanks for the vid. I hope that Labour builds the courage to make the decision to build the line to Crewe eventually. So far, they have been scared of comitting to any big investments such as HS2 so hopefully that changes
Let's hope for a positive announcement within the year. At the very least they need to decide what to do with Handsacre
Pld tracks connected to everything
I don’t think labour will do anything.
The funding has already been allocated for this project.
Also labour don’t have the funds available, too build any additions to this project.
"reallocation of funds" is a myth. Infrastructure investment is paid for through borrowing and is not like household finances
I never said anything about replicating funding. 🤷♂️
@@Aloh-od3ef "funds allocated" thought you were making reference to Network North
@@Rail_FocusHmm. When net public sector debt continues to rise as a % of GDP, and is at historically high levels, the Govt has got a real problem if it wants to revisit the HS2 project. Borrowed money, whether for current or capital spend, has got to be paid back eventually. My guess is this will go into the very long grass
@@superted6960 By this reasoning we'd never build anything. I'm not saying we should bankrupt ourselves to get it built, but scrapping something that has had a lot of time, money, and planning going into it makes us a stock as a country. It was already scaled back massively as a project and if it's just too expensive just push back parts of the project to a later date whilst retaining all the work done on the project and keep all the compulsory land acquisitions. We do need this line, maybe rename it HC2 (High Capacity 2), because it is all about capacity and not speed.
From Guardian:
*1) Passenger railway services (public ownership) bill:* A simple bill, but a potentially big change - bringing rail services back into public ownership.
*2) Rail reform bill:* This would formally establish Great British Railways, the state-run rail firm.
*3) High-speed rail (Crewe to Manchester) bill:* An acknowledgment in law that Labour *will not resurrect the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2,* instead focusing on east to west links.
*4) Better buses bill:* A measure that could have a big impact, this changes the law to allow local authorities and mayors to bring bus services under local control, rather than being privately run.
Number *3)* is (Crewe to Manchester) *bill.* Then the Guardian says after _Birmingham to Manchester._ I seems the Guardian assumes all of phase 2 stays binned. It may be that scope is there for parts of 2a, with the Guardian misreading.
It would be great to get up to Crewe, living close to HS1 I’ve seen what it’s meant our HS line works passengers in peak hours but opens up Capacity for FastElectric Freight LOCO’s in quieter periods. To me the focus only on HS2 for passengers has been the biggest miss selling of a national infrastructure asset in my memory, and the Conservatives burying so much of HS2 in expensive tunnels North of London has basically sucked up the budget to allow running up to Manchester even.
I think both HS1 and HS2 have been Labour projects in their early days but I’m not sure and although it’s clear the U.K. economy can’t support the original vision of what HS2, a Labour government should try to help Andy Burnham and the North in General with better connections. I never understood the Spur into Yorkshire, it’s well serviced out of London on the ECML so I think that funding should be better targeted to the WCML which needs relief from HS2 because it is for sure the I once took a flight from Manchester to Heathrow, I actually felt embarrassed but the company told me rail was too expensive. That said if it was my network and budget for the long term supported it, I’d terminate the HS2 core route into Manchester and the focus on HS3 from Liverpool over to Hull. If the U.K. had three HS routes lines built before 2050 plus Cross Rail 2 in London Team U.K. will be fighting fit for what the next half of the Century throws at us. Having Continental Freight able to arrive through the CTRL and also being Electric Loco connected to Felixstowe up to Liverpool the back over to Hull would be game changing leaving Capacity for other things on the classic lines.
I was baffled when they cancelled phase 2a. Especially After some of the preparation have been completed such as land purchases etc.
Was a knee jerk reaction of a PM desperate to win votes. It didn't work and now we're left with the mess
They need to change the Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 to no longer allow councils to object to every new infrastructure project and make it easier to get rid of the NIMBYs. This will save lots of money, get it back on schedule, and allow the full vision of HS2 to be realised.
with any luck, finish the apt-p program and introduce the apt-f
Crewe and East Midlands Parkway make most sense as temporary measures before expanding both sides further North.
In order to really save money though I think dropping Birmingham Interchange would be a sensible decision. It seems to exist to serve Birmingham airport and NEC but they both already have excellent connections from Birmingham itself and there's little need to connect them directly to London. The fact it won't be directly connected to the existing Birmingham International makes it even more pointless still.
What should be done however is a full integration of HS2 into Birmingham New Street (yes it's expensive but if you can build an entire new line under London then you can expand New Street) and if you do need Curzon Street as well then use that for the LNWR services rather than HS2 services and ensure it's properly integrated with New Street and Moor Street.
A station should also be added in the Chilterns to connect to East West Rail.
Ideally the whole thing should be scrapped and started from scratch given what a Frankenstein of a project it's become but I fear that won't happen. Crazy that we're still building something not knowing what we're actually building.
Don’t agree, bringing Birmingham Airport to within less than an hour from London alleviates the need for further airport expansion in the south east…
@@gorgu08
So HS2 is for the South east then. No secret.
*i)* Labour has inherited a 1945 situation.
*ii)* The economy is in a shambles.
*iii)* We are 1.5 million homes short
*iv)* Three trillion pounds in debt
*v)* NHS severely underfunded
That is for for starters. When finished Manchester as it stands, by just connecting to Handsacre will be 1 hr 40 mins at most from London, more like 1 hr 30-35 mins. Very acceptable indeed. Services have not been announced for HS2 since ph.2 was cancelled. Nor has rolling stock been announced. That is fact.
Now some speculation. HMG has pressing needs. It would be highly unlikely that the new government will spend billions on a fast railway that goes to cities that already have a fast railway between them, and will be faster when HS2 is finished to Handsacre. Hendy can scream all he likes, he has to get money from the Treasury, who will be reluctant to spend on what is regarded by many as a rich man's vanity rail line.
Now back to facts:
*1)* HS2 phase 2 is *cancelled* for sure;
*2)* Liverpool and Manchester metro mayors were in Downing St last week coming out saying HS2 phase 2 is *dead.*
*3)* Network Rail have *three* options to bypass Stafford. This would make trains *faster* for sure.
So after a WCML Stafford bypass is built, safety levels and speed will rise. Have trains that run faster on the WCML speeds end to end will rise even more. So all we need is a Stafford bypass on the WCML, not a full 2a. Asking for the expensive bit, full 2a, will probably get nowhere. Forget 2b entirely.
Most is there in ph. 1. All it needs is a WCML Stafford bypass.
Stafford bypass, HS2 Phase 2a in all but name.
@@Rail_Focus
Nope. There are three *three* options. Will give link later. Dropped as they thought 2a was being built. From Stafford to Crewe WCML is near dead straight so can have faster trains without new track.
Ideally a Stafford bypass should be built asap and connected to HS2 at Handsacre. But those ministers with the money may think differently as they have other priorities.
Search on: _Rail Alternatives to HS2 Phase 2a_
@@Rail_Focus
Just come back from Christian Wolmar talk. So, search on: _Rail Alternatives to HS2 Phase 2a_
@@Rail_Focus
Look up _Rail Alternatives to HS2 Phase 2a_
still can't believe this project cost over 50B, like how
Everything has been getting more and more and more expensive. And we just had a hard-Brexit government who pushed the EU into making trade with the UK as expensive to do as possible.
If you factor inflation into costs of current projects and previous projects, they look a lot more comparable.
@@DavidShepheard Really?
@@DavidShepheard
Nothing to do with Brexit. The UK government messed it up.
Look at the number of tunnels, viaducts, bridges and eco measures taken, however over time it will look pleasant for hundreds of years, in China they just stick trains on the land, it's cheap, look at their built high speed lines and see the difference, in the end the UK full HS2 high speed lines over the two centuries of its operation will cost 1 billion a year, we should have started a decade ago and built it over two or three decades, next HS3 to Abertawe as it will be known as then!?!
@@DavidShepheard BREXIT was voted in by the majority and stopping that was a big mistake by remaniacs that caused the schism in the Conservative party as people who wanted BREXIT had to vote Tory so they had an undeserved landslide. The EU is totally incompetent and their reliance on Russian energy and collapse of the whole European Energy Market has impacted us far more than BREXIT ever did, but don't let facts get in the way of your argument. The EU is also reliant on China and that will not work out well either as dictators cannot make reliable business partners. EU world trade is forecast to drop from 30% in 1995 to 17% by 2030, in the meantime by the 2030's the UK will be the biggest economy in Europe, it already is the highest ranked military power in Europe. Like in Switzerland for big ticket items we should have a referendum on HS2 continuation for example and Immigration, Energy, Water anything with a large cost that tax payers have to burden that is not working well, and of course the majority wins, not the tail wagging the dog!?!
Yes, reactionary + strong plans
Labour should respect their northern roots and re-instate the proper HS2 plan, not the Tomas the Tank Engine version the last government dreamed up
Can see the extension to Euston station happening with private investment
I can't see private finance funding the station to be honest. But what I can't understand, with all the planned over site development, why the station couldn't fund itself. If anything the work they're having to do for the OSD is why it's so expensive.
Latest rumours are private developers are not interested. Labour are already in a real mess with government finances. The National Audit Office have already highlighted why the new hospital programme can't deliver 40 hospitals by 2030 due to construction industry resource capacity as well as the cost. Same reasons will stop the plan to build 300,000 new homes in 5 years. Same reasons will stop the green initiative. Same reasons will stop the northern leg of hs2 being resurrected. They will have to find the money to build the euston leg of hs2.
You have only to look at what Labour did to the TSR2 project...
That makes me cry. But I think it’s more relevant are the agendas of the government than the name of the party. The Tories had to go, they’ve cancelled and decommissioned so many military and infrastructure projects in these 14 years. They laid waste to the Harrier, Nimrod, Type 42 destroyers, the attempted scrapping of HMS Prince of Wales, the reduction in tanks to 227 & now 148 upgraded to Challenger 3 spec, and now the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2 which makes it pointless in its current form.
Yes Labour rightly cancelled another money pit when in the 1960s the country was still festooned with slum housing. Although Lindon Johnson had the UK financially by the privates, also wanting nothing competing with the F1-11. Hence why Wilson did not send troops to Viet Nam. We got the best of that.
BTW, the nuclear deterrent was taken over by the Navy. TSR2 was redundant before it even flew. Wrong plane at the wrong time.
HS2 kind of sums up how incapable and bogged down by bureaucracy Britain has become. Just hand the whole project over to Japan and it'll get built in full in no time!
Bureaucracy is a Governmental issue, you can't just outsource the parliamentary process and legally binding processes.
If you're talking about construction, we've already imported a lot of knowledge from abroad, with French companies who have experienced building HS lines involved in HS2's construction. What we don't want to do though is lose that knowledge by curtailing investment.
Not really enough background here. I’m interested in transport but couldn’t really what the options were.
ua-cam.com/video/oXBl_9fgCFY/v-deo.html
@@Rail_Focus thank you!
Why the hell is the Handsacre junction even a thing ?
It was originally intended to allow services to head North before HS2 was completed in full to Manchester, then when Phase 2 was split into 2, with HS2 reaching Crewe sooner, Handsacre was downgraded, but would allow HS2 services to still serve Stoke and Stafford. Now Handsacre may be as far north as HS2 goes, in which case it's vital the junction is reverted back to the original more efficient design.
What will they do - delay it or cancel it altogether.
It's definitely delayed north of Birmingham, but it will reach at least Handsacre at some point.
@@Rail_Focus Hopefully, but don't forget that Starmer will not commit to anything and he has a history of U-turning.
If Labour say 'nope' then the project will have to be aborted.
Havent heard any detail about Maiers review, have you covered it?
I would expect that Peter Hendy will want to investigate progress and management of HS2 so far. I only know what i read in rail media and channels like yours, but how it is being built makes little sense to the layman.
Politicians need things to demonstrate progress to taxpayers!
Haven't heard anything about the review as yet. Let's just hope they haven't filled it away somewhere because they didn't like what it said
I wouldn't be surprised if the Tories, in their last dying days, sold all the bought up HS2 land to their mates for cheap.
I wouldn't put his passed them. But in the end no land was sold
What wil?!
!!!!!!
i like to ask Labour how would having HS2 and national railway that be to much money for that. how that going to work. when the uk the 4th rich you till me
The UK is the 6th biggest economy, it should be 4th but has been mismanaged since the 1970's, our biggest problem at present is spending money on immigrants who do not pay their way via working and taxes and are instead taking money out of the system, on numerous occasions illegally, they should have to be self supporting for 10 years before having benefits and deported if they do not, refugees should be restricted to 25,000 per year from outside Europe and 50,000 within Europe per year!?!
@@TomTomicMic
It was 4th biggest economy it has dropped to 6th since 2010.
Short answer - waste our money on foolish projects.
Nope 🙄
In reality money spent upgrading tracks on existing lines would be far better.
Nope, in reality everyone who knows anything about rail agrees Handsacre to Crewe is a severe bottleneck that needs extra capacity that simply would not be provided by "upgrades"
@@Rail_Focus
*i)* Upgrade the Chiltern to electric and put the B'ham/West Mids trains back on it taking them off the WCML, releasing capacity.
*ii)* Remove WCML bottlenecks.
*iii)* Build Stafford bypass.
*iv)* Upgrade WCML Crewe to Warrington making it all 4-track,
*v)* Have faster trains.
*vi)* Have state-of the art signalling.
Similar results to HS2 with no objections, cheaper and probably done by now.
More wasted money under Labour with more trainspotters as advisers.
Diane Abbott helped with the adding up the costs no doubt!
"Trainspotter" = anyone who knows or is passionate about rail. I guess chemical company chairman should run railways 🤷
Upgrading tracks does not improve capacity unless more lines are added. Freight sidetracked for passenger trains is a feature of the ECML.
@@johnjephcote7636 Mixing 125mph trains with others that average 60-75mph kills capacity. Them high speed trains need a big clearance ahead and no train can catch up to the rear so more is lost in the wake. Passing loops help to a degree.
@@johnjephcote7636
Modern signalling gets more trains on the line improving capacity.
Your 'ramblings' are quite comprehendible and it shows you need not script as tightly as you often do in order to still be interesting. More important than the party in government though is the fraudsters who underestimated the cost of our line a decade ago and caused this mess in the first place, as such people seem to do in many countries that take on such projects for the first time. If your consultants are deceiving you, it matters not who the government is as MPs generally don't know enough (about anything). Would you not think that money would be better spent on 2 extra platforms at Manchester Pic or other TransPennine projects?
I'd argue we need both. Upgrading Castlfield alone would be a sticking plaster without NPR to further provide capacity. The Castlefield corridor shouldn't be so intensively used by local, regional and long distance services.
NPR into Manchester basically uses HS2 phase 2b, so it seems a no brainer not to build the short section between Crewe and Bowden.
IN fairness, the line has had cross-party support throughout (apart from Gillian "waste ten billion on a tunnel under my constituency" - and she's pushing up daisies now anyway).
@@mikehindson-evans159 Yes, people seem to forget that it was a Conservative government that started this whole fiasco, though conservative in name only.
Think it wrong you stamp your political bias at the start of the vlog. Thumbs down sorry
Given Tories systematic dismantling of a national significant project and its general apathy towards the railways I find it hard to believe any who want what's best for the railways wouldn't be pleased that Labour won.
@@Rail_Focus .
Labour said they will focus on local and regional rail. Most will give that a big smiling thumbs up.