The UK Government has announced Northern Powerhouse plans, which include a new rail route between Manchester and Liverpool.
Three new stations will open as part of the scheme at Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Bank Quay Low Level.
Improvements at Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central are also being considered as part of the plans, which are expected to unlock around £40 billion of economic potential.
Other plans are being announced this evening, but focus on the Manchester to Sheffield / Leeds and Bradford section.
Currently, journeys between Liverpool and Manchester Airport take one hour and 25 minutes to cover 29 miles. This compares to Reading to London Paddington, which takes 22 minutes to do 35 miles.
To add more capacity at Manchester Airport, plans have also been approved to lengthen the platforms at the existing station to accommodate longer and more frequent trains.
“For too long, the North has been held back by underinvestment and years of dither and delay – but that ends now.
“This new era of investment will reignite the economy across Liverpool and Manchester, helping their iconic sport and cultural industries to thrive, and cementing Manchester Airport as the gateway to the north.
“This exciting new line will not only speed up journeys, it will open up new jobs and homes for people, making a real difference to millions of lives.”
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander
Responses
It actually takes 35 minutes from Lime Street to Manchester Victoria on the Newcastle Train . Who wants to go via Manchester Airport, when there is a better Airport in Liverpool
This all sounds great but then, almost as an afterthought, the announcement says that “work will start on these improvements sometime in the 2030s”.
Well excuse me if I’m not bowled over by this!
Why does everything take so long in Britain to even start, let alone be completed?
I think that more money should be spent on improving more railway infrastructure across Northeast England, Northwest England, East Midlands, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and North Yorkshire.
Rather than focusing on London and the Southeast, East of England, West Midlands and South of England as the transport infrastructure has already improved.
I have just done the calculation for the journey between Liverpool and Manchester Airport that takes one hour and 25 minutes to cover 29 miles, the average is 20.5 miles an hour, could Rocket managed that all those years ago? No (planes had not been invented), but it was only 8.5 miles per hour slower at 12mph average over 70 miles, and could reach 30mph. So in 200 years we have only improved by just 8.5 miles per hour.
If it’s being advertised as a line between Liverpool and Manchester, why on earth is it going via Manchester Airport? Indeed, what is the traffic potential between Liverpool and Manchester Airport anyway, given that Liverpool has its own airport?
it’s so people from Liverpool can fly from Manchester and people from Manchester can fly from Liverpool.
All well and good, but what timescale ? We all know how long HS2 is taking !
With how long it takes to do rail projects in the UK 2036 to 2041.
I will believe this when I see it.
I hope that you are not an OAP
I am actually Mike – 69 this year.
No idea where the time has gone to!
As you age your perception of time changes, at 69 hours past in the blink of an eye, at 7 the click of the second hand on a classroom click seemed to take an age.
So, with that logic, the older you are, the quicker it is to get between Liverpool and Manchester!