How Manchester and Liverpool are coming together to call for a better railway
Hello
There’s a lot of things Mancs and Scousers don’t quite see eye-to-eye on. But I think even the most partisan among us would agree the two great cities of the North West have plenty in common.
Infuriatingly one of those things is pretty sub-standard trains. That’s why today, in an unprecedented show of unity, the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Echo have come together to call on the government to bring our two cities closer – by building a new railway line.
And as the editors of our proud titles come together, so do the mayors who are in London today to sell their plans to the government.
Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, his counterpart down the other end of the East Lancs Road, are lobbying Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to stump up the cash.
The front page of today’s M.E.N.
They say a new high speed line from Piccadilly to Lime Street, via Manchester Airport and Warrington, could help ‘supercharge economic growth and set a new model for delivering major infrastructure in the UK’ while also acting as the ‘catalyst’ for building 1.5m new homes along the route.
In the process, they claim, it could help boost the UK economy by a staggering £90bn by 2040 and create 22,000 jobs during construction. And, crucially, it could help close the north-south divide and finally give us the type of rail service ‘long-enjoyed by Londoners’.
What are the plans?
The route of the proposed new line
Express trains every 10 minutes between Manchester and Liverpool, slashing journey times to just over half-an-hour. An underground station at Piccadilly freeing up space for hundreds of new passenger and freight services across the north.
A new transport interchange at Manchester Airport. That’s the vision for the north west’s railways revealed today.
A report says the line would be shorter than the £18bn Elizabeth line in London, and just a third of the length of the East West Rail line being built between Oxford and Cambridge, but would ‘punch well above its weight when unlocking growth’. Trains would travel from Piccadilly to the airport, onto Warrington Bank Quay and a new station at Liverpool Gateway, before following one of two potential routes, including a tunnel from the eastern outskirts of Liverpool, into Lime Street in just 32 minutes.
All stations along the route would also undergo major refurbishment. There are currently two lines between the two cities, but the report says ‘both are currently struggling to cope with a mix of express, local, and freight services’.
Building a new line would free up enough space to ‘transform our network into one where people simply turn up and go—a quality of service long-enjoyed by Londoners’, the report says. And it would bring around 500,000 people within 30 minutes of either Manchester or Liverpool city centres.
Why do we need it?
Manchester and Liverpool are coming together
“Our two cities are less than 40 miles apart, but our Victorian infrastructure is reaching its capacity, making us feel much further away,” says politics reporter Joseph Timan. “It is ludicrous that travelling from Liverpool to Manchester and vice-versa is often a slow and frustrating experience.
“It is ridiculous that it is a journey that commuters cannot rely on and businesses and tourists find frustrating and convoluted. This situation comes after years of unfair investment in the region’s transport with more than double spent per person in London compared to the North.
“But the new line has the potential to be transformative for the people of the North West – offering opportunities that are currently stifled by an outdated and unreliable transport infrastructure.”
What are we saying?
Manchester Evening News editor Sarah Lester and Liverpool Echo editor Maria Breslin came together today to issue a statement: “Today, two great Northern cities and two historic Northern brands are coming together to call on the government to fully finance a vital fast train route between Liverpool and Manchester – starting to correct years of unfair funding to transport infrastructure in the North West.
“This plan has the potential to supercharge the economy of the North West and wider regions and link together two of the UK’s great cities.
“It will bring potentially life-changing opportunities to those who live in Manchester and Liverpool, creating jobs, and driving regeneration in the way the Elizabeth Line has done in London. It is unprecedented for the Echo and the M.E.N. to come together in this way but we feel the potential benefits to the region outweigh any traditional rivalries.”
What are the politicians saying?
Andy Burnham at today’s press confernce(Image: PA)
Andy Burnham and co want the government to commit to giving the North West the £17bn previously promised by Conservatives and include the new line in its 10 year infrastructure strategy. That would allow work to begin in the early 2030s, they say.
Speaking at a press conference in London earlier this afternoon Mr Burnham said: “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.” Over to you Westminster…
Weather etc
Thursday: Sunny, 20C.
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