Devolution of rail to the regions meeting May 17

Those who have followed this blog since September 2010 and also study this Facebook group will know that the matter of the North East's local rail network being accountable to the North East and benefitting from much stronger management has exercised me. These have become interesting times and not everything can be shared. However there are some bullet point issues to note. An upcoming meeting in Manchester. Who from our region will be there? The North East is one region forming the North.

The meeting is responding to this Decentralisation brief. Suddenly all our local authority transport planners are having to formulate a response to exactly the issue this thread has argued about. Our MPs are engaging with the issue. Guy Opperman for Hexham has asked a question in the house about whether a Northumbria franchise would be supported. He has recently blogged about the franchise. I have written to six North Eastern MPs to raise the matter.

I am absolutely sure that without a local rail franchise accountable to the North East the trend for us to be at the bottom of the pile which now has plenty of evidence will continue and so during 2012 this matter will bubble more and more.