'I understand why people are cynical of rail plan'

The mayor of South Yorkshire says he understands why people are cynical about the government's new investment in railways because the region has had "15 years of promises which were never met".

The long-promised Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme will see £45bn spent on line electrifications, upgrades to Sheffield station and a new Rotherham station.

Labour's Oliver Coppard has been answering questions on BBC Radio Sheffield's phone-in Call Coppard.

Read our takeaways from the hour below or listen to the full interview here.

"I've been cynical about railway improvements and big rail schemes before.

"We already have two fast trains an hour between Sheffield and Leeds as a result of some timetable changes that I've been pushing for.

"The government are now saying they are going to absolutely work with us and deliver four fast trains an hour as well as putting in an electrified line so it's quicker and cleaner.

"We've been treading water since the original announcement from former chancellor George Osborne. Actually in South Yorkshire we've been drowning because while we were initially included in the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme by the last government, we were then excluded.

"Sheffield in particular, South Yorkshire more broadly, has been completely ignored by the last government when it came to big rail schemes and that's why people are cynical because we've had 15 years of promises that were never met.

"Now we're going back to the drawing board and this government is saying we are going to do this. What I was asking the government for privately, they've now delivered, so we've got everything we wanted, everything we asked for and we're front of the queue.

"We want exactly the same opportunities as London. I think everybody looks with envy at the Elizabeth Line but it was £20bn and most of that was raised locally in London. They have a bigger economy, a bigger business base and different powers to us but they raised a lot of that money.

"There are loads of businesses across London that are prepared to put that money in to pay for that infrastructure but you don't have that same opportunity across Derbyshire, Sheffield and Manchester because we're just not as rich as they are."

"There has been work done on looking at reopening the Woodhead Pass tunnel and I agree with the principle. My mum got stuck on the Snake Pass right at the top when it was snowing. She was stranded up there because it does become impassable really quickly.

"Tunnels have been looked at but it was £8bn to reopen the Woodhead Pass one. Now we're looking at better rail connections between Manchester and Sheffield and improving the stations.

"We have capacity on the lines now but we've two stations that are really overcrowded. For anybody that's tried to come into Sheffield station, you'll have often been held outside the station.

"The reason is the station's not big enough for the amount of traffic we want to put through it, and therefore people have to wait for a platform to become available. It's the same at Manchester.

"Manchester also has lots more freight going through which clogs up the station. So in order to get more capacity onto the line, we need upgrades at Sheffield station and at Manchester station and that's what the government has announced.

"I would also say we need better road connections too, which is why I've said the Snake Pass has to be upgraded."

"Fares have gone up on buses, some by 20%, because the bus companies that run the services have put fares up. They are trying to make more money because they are a business and I can't stop them doing that.

"On Supertram, which we are in control of, we have either frozen or reduced fares. When we bring bus services back under public control from September 2027 we will take a different approach to fares.

"When things went wrong on Supertram, I was out on the platform talking to passengers, handing out day rider passes and chocolates, saying, look, this is why it's gone wrong, this is what we're doing to fix it.

"That is the difference between public control. With private control like the bus companies you will never hear from those who run the service.

"I did a public meeting and a woman in her 60s told me that she'd gone to Crystal Peaks shopping centre but was told the bus had been cancelled and she walked home with her shopping. One in five journeys on the bus are to do with healthcare.

"Private companies look at whether they can make enough money on routes and will take buses off based on that.

"When we bring buses back under public control we'll be able to use the money from the profitable routes in to pay for services in more rural communities."

"When we brought Supertram back under public control it had been run by Stagecoach for years and we wanted a different culture, we needed different management.

"Retainment of staff has gone right up, I think the turnover previously was about 50%, it was huge and they were losing staff left, right and centre.

"We've upped the pay, improved conditions, and one of the reasons why timetable delays and problems have occurred is because rotas weren't giving drivers a decent work-life balance and they were leaving. We changed the rotas in November and that's caused some of the disruption.

"Punctuality and reliability has gone right back up because I've applied that pressure to the service and said to them, you've got to get this right. You've got to recruit more drivers.

"It takes a number of weeks to train drivers but by the beginning of February, the new system should be in place and we'll have enough drivers."

"A community group has been talking about potholes on Supertram lines and they are absolutely right, Supertram network hasn't been invested in properly for nearly 30 years and we need a huge amount of investment to fix those problems.

"When people call up [highways contractor] Amey about potholes they say it's the council. The council then says it's Supertram and Supertram apparently haven't been getting back to people.

"I'm asking my team to sort this out urgently. We're committing £600m to the network over the next few years. That is going to cause a bit of disruption because we're going to have to stop the tram and put the rails in and we'll do that in the best, quickest way we can.

"I drive and I know exactly what you're talking about with potholes. It is a state, so we've got to fix it. We haven't had investment for years but we now have the money from government to fix some of those things."