The Greater Manchester mayor made the comments at a press conference in Westminster this afternoon
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham was flanked by former rail minister Huw Merriman(Image: PA)
Andy Burnham has made his pitch to the government for a new railway line to be built between Manchester and Liverpool.
The Greater Manchester mayor held a press conference this afternoon (May 14) alongside his Liverpool City Region counterpart Steve Rotheram. The Labour mayors were also joined by former Conservative rail minister, Huw Merriman, who is helping them with the plans.
It comes as the Manchester Evening News joins forces with the Liverpool ECHO to back the new railway line between ours two cities.
The proposal set out by the mayors would see express trains run between Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street every 10 minutes with services calling at Warrington as well as Manchester and Liverpool’s airports with journey times slashed to 32 minutes.
The plans also include building an underground station at Piccadilly and a new transport interchange at Manchester Airport.
According to a new report, this railway line is the ‘missing link’ that could unlock £90bn of economic growth for the region.
The potential route of the new Manchester to Liverpool line
Mr Burnham and Mr Rotheram are now lobbying the government to include the project in its 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.
Speaking at the press conference, the mayors thanked Mr Merriman for agreeing to chair the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board.
Mr Burnham said: “We’re really grateful to you Huw for all of the expertise you brought to this as a distinguished rail minister in the last government and you always supported the North West’s ambitions for high-quality rail.
“The expertise and the knowledge you brought to this gives this report really strong credibility.
“I want to reflect on the last 10 years. Eight years Steve and I have been in position as the mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.
“This place in the last 10 years has grown above the rest of the UK economy because of the devolution we have, because of the change that we’re bringing about in the North West of England. The North West is closing the gap with the rest of the UK.
Mr Burnham arrives at the press conference(Image: PA)
“The North-South divide has begun to close. And Greater Manchester in the last decade has been the fastest growing city region in the UK, average annual growth of 3.1 per cent.
“But if we carry on with a rail system that people can’t trust, that doesn’t get them there on time, that ruins people’s working days, all of that success is going to be put at risk. We can’t accept that.
“We’ve got growth but you now have to build out to increase that growth. That’s why this railway is absolutely critical.
“This railway is shorter than the Elizabeth Line, shorter than the [Oxford-Cambridge] arc, however, delivers more [Gross Value Added] to the UK economy than the latter. That’s a really compelling piece of evidence to support what we are saying.
“Just as Steve said, 200 years ago, Liverpool and Manchester gave inter-city rail travel to the world and we built a railway from the bottom up. Here’s how we believe we can innovate again.
“We saw what happened with HS2, trying to build a railway from here to the North West of England and all of the problems and all of the costs and all of the complexity that that brought and the waste of money that that brought. So we’re innovating again.
How the line compares to the £18bn Elizabeth line in London and the currently under construction East West Rail line between Oxford and Cambridge
“Build the railway from the bottom up again. Where you have a North West with full devolution along the line.
“We will start now with a masterplan for all of the five locations where this railway will go so we can create the growth, the jobs, the houses, around these interchanges when they finally land.
“That’s a different way of building a railway. It will, in my view, deliver it more quickly and it will deliver it to budget.
“We recognise this is a difficult spending round for the country and we also recognise that there is also significant resource going into the building of HS2. But what we would ask the government to consider is not to give everything we need right now.
“It’s simply to say that in the 2030s, hopefully starting in the early part of the 2030s, they will commit in the infrastructure strategy to a window when this railway will be built, recognising that the world rail industry is in the UK building HS2 and it makes complete sense then for that pipeline of rail development to move on and move on to the Liverpool-Manchester railway as part of the Northern Arc – that growth across the North of England.
“And in this spending review, put in place the development funding to help us work with our private sector partners to put in place the designs and the plans to make this real. We believe it’s the right ask.
Mr Burnham is working with Mr Rotheram, his Liverpool City Region counterpart, on the plans(Image: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
“Of course it links to TransPennine Route upgrade on the east of Pennines, and the prosperity grows out into Sheffield, into Leeds, and goes way above £100bn [Gross Value Added] to the economy.
“Because George Osborne was right at the very start of this to say if you bring these great cities together, they will provide an agglomeration impact that will bring more benefit to the UK economy than anywhere else in the country.
“We’re 15 years on and we’re still arguing. Why are we still arguing? We shouldn’t have to be because the evidence is clear. But we are here today to make that case once again.
“We have the people of the North West with us, we have the newspapers in our great city-regions with us, we’ve got the businesses behind you who are with us.
“Everyone is saying this is the moment to set the North West up for prosperity and growth in the 21st century.
“That is our message to our colleagues in Parliament and to the government today.”