Northern Powerhouse Rail gets £45bn backing

Long-awaited plans for better railways across the north of England have been given government backing with a pledge to "reverse years of chronic underinvestment" by spending up to £45bn building Northern Powerhouse Rail.

- Gwyn Topham Josh Halliday

Just over £1bn has been allocated to work up a detailed three-stage plan to connect cities from Liverpool to Newcastle, potentially fulfilling most of the demands of northern leaders in a series of long-term projects. But mayors may have to raise local funding to pay for parts of the scheme, with the Treasury imposing a £45bn cap as it seeks to avoid the huge overspend that has blighted the construction of HS2.

The government also "set out its intention" to build a Birmingham-Manchester line in the future, after the completion of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), although it insisted this was "not a reinstatement of HS2".

It said NPR would form the backbone of a wider growth plan, with faster, more frequent train services transforming connections between city regions.

Northern mayors broadly welcomed the three-stage plan, starting with the current works upgrading TransPennine links, which will be extended to a new Bradford station.

A new line connecting Liverpool and Manchester will be in the second stage of works - on a route via Manchester airport and Warrington that follows part of the axed HS2 high-speed rail plan, allowing the potential future link to Birmingham.

The third stage will bring further improved connections across the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York.