The Mayor of Manchester  has argues that the North of England is underserved in terms of rail infrasctructure.




The figures seem to suggest that this is the case, but does London need the heavy investment on infrastrucutre to allow the nearly 9 million people who live there and the record number of visitors who visit each year to function.  Would more of this investment elsewhere create a joined, modern system?

Figures from BBC

Total government transport spending for England in 2011-2012 was £15.8bn.

That covered all forms of transport.

A third of it went to London, while only a quarter was spent on the North East, the North West, and the Yorkshire and Humber regions combined.

By 2015-16 that had jumped to £24.3bn, and proportionate spending was roughly the same.

No other English region comes close to receiving the amount spent on London - which includes the tube network and recently the Crossrail development.


Living a bit further North than Manchester and in a country with just over 5 million people in total, to me, the central Manchester and Birmingham transport systems are far superior to the Scottish cities.  I am sure that many of you have opinions on this, so let me know.