Northern routes

Transport for the North announces Northern Powerhouse Rail route plans - and hopes construction could begin during the mid-2020s.

NORTHERN Powerhouse Rail’s preferred route will include a new railway between Liverpool and Manchester via Warrington town centre, as well as a new line between Manchester and Leeds via the centre of Bradford.

Elsewhere, there will be significant upgrades and journey time improvements to the Hope Valley line from Manchester-Sheffield, as well as upgrades and electrification of Leeds/SheffieldHull.

NPR would also include significant upgrades of the East Coast Main Line between Leeds and Newcastle, and restoration of the Leamside line.

The plans were announced on March 2 by Transport for the North. NPR is co-cliented between TfN and the Department for Transport.

It’s hoped that construction could begin during the mid

2020s. TfN expects the network to contribute £14.4 billion in annual gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy by 2060, create 74,000 jobs by that date, and take 58,000 cars off northern England’s roads.

TfN has urged the Government to back the plan, although it has agreed to delay submitting NPR’s business case until the longdelayed Integrated Rail Plan has been published. As this issue of

RAIL went to press, TfN hinted that the IRP would be published this month.

“This is the culmination of years of work on the original Northern Powerhouse vision to radically connect the North’s communities by rail, create jobs, and boost the Northern economy for decades to come,” said Tim Wood, NPR Director at TfN.

“Communities and businesses want to see certainty on what will be delivered and when, in order to make key investment decisions and create new opportunities.”

Despite concerns regarding rail’s

lower passenger use, doubts over HS2 Phase 2b (eastern leg) and a reduction in TfN’s budget, leaders in the north of England believe that now isn’t the time to scale back and that the Government should commit to both NPR and HS2.

There is also a call for assurances that northern leaders will retain a full, joint leadership role in the programme. The statutory advice calls for TfN to have co-sponsorship of NPR, including setting the direction, outcomes and delivery of the project as well as a continued strong and challenging client function that can drive efficiency improvements and help reduce costs. A TransPennine Express Class 185 is framed by catenary masts as it crosses the East Coast Main Line at Hambleton on September 28 2019, forming the 1347 Manchester Piccadilly-Hull. Transport for the North hopes that lines to Hull from Leeds and Sheffield (including that used by the ‘185’) will be electrified.