Mark Harper on rail nationalisation and 2025 railway bicentenary

Mark Harper was speaking on the platform at North Road station just a few miles down the track from the Hitachi plant in Newton Aycliffe shortly before Labour unveiled their new manifesto commitment there.

“Their plans are unfunded, are not going to lead to better services, in fact they’ll lead to higher prices and higher costs for the taxpayer,” said Mr Harper. “The worst thing they haven’t spoken about today is Angela Rayner’s plan to repeal all of our trade union laws and go to the model of having French-style wildcat strikes which would be terrible for the travelling public.

“We have resolved most of the issues with the rail unions: Aslef are still going on strike even though there’s a decent offer on the table taking their average salaries from £60,000 to £65,000 a year which most of you readers would think is a decent salary, but they won’t even put it to their readers.

“It is no surprise to me that Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef has welcomed Labour’s plans because they’ll put more power in the trades unions arena and that is terrible for passengers.

“The right solution is bringing track and train together, as in our draft Bill, and working with those companies to drive up passenger numbers and make the system financially sustainable which is better for passengers and better for taxpayers.”

Darlington MP Peter Gibson and Transport Secretary Mark Harper MP visit Darlington Bank Top Station to see the ongoing redevelopment work taking place. Picture: CHRIS BOOTH

Mr Harper was returning to Darlington to inspect progress on the £100m project at Bank Top station.

“It will improve capacity and capability, so you’ll be able to run more services more reliably, and you will have a much better passenger experience in a new station where they have blended brilliantly the new building with the heritage of the station,” he said.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Darlington MP Peter Gibson with rail industry representatives discussing improvements to North Road station

Mr Harper also visited North Road station where the town's MP, Peter Gibson, is trying to improve the platform’s accessibility as well as its appearance because the Hopetown visitor attraction is being developed alongside it ahead of next year’s railway bicentenary.

“With that fencing, it looks more like a prison than a station,” said Mr Gibson. “It isn’t the welcoming vision we want for people stepping off to visit the museum.”

“The point of bringing me here was to concentrate some of the minds in the rail system, pulling lots of partners together to look at the fencing, the platform, the canopy and potentially getting some heritage steam railway services,” said Mr Harper.

“We have spent time talking about the importance of the bicentenary and there is a real focus on making sure the work at Bank Top station is ready for next year so that all of those people coming here have a fantastic new station. The work is on track for that.”