Emer MoreauBusiness reporter
The government has set out its vision for major rail improvements across the north of England, which it says will transform the region and boost the UK economy, more than a decade after such a project was first proposed.
The multibillion pound scheme, known as Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), aims to deliver faster journeys and more frequent trains across the North through a combination of upgraded and new lines, and improvements to stations.
An initial £1.1bn has been earmarked for design and preparation. Construction is not expected to start until after 2030.
It will be delivered in phases, starting with upgrades to lines between Leeds, York, Bradford and Sheffield, the government said.
The second phase will be the building of a new route between Liverpool and Manchester, and the third will improve connections between Manchester and cities in Yorkshire, according to the outline of the plan.
The government said the “transformation” of travel in the North would shorten commutes and encourage investment across the region, adding up to £40bn to the British economy.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the cycle of “paying lip service to the potential of the North” had to end.
“This government is rolling up its sleeves to deliver real, lasting change,” he said.
Successive governments have promised to unlock the North’s economic potential with investment in infrastructure.
The Northern Powerhouse project was first proposed by former Conservative Chancellor George Osborne in 2014, while Boris Johnson was later elected on a “levelling up” agenda.
However, promised rail investments were scaled back.
The government plans to make NPR the focus of a wider Northern Growth Strategy, which will be published in spring.
The first phase of NPR will also see improvements to railway stations in Leeds, Sheffield and York, the government said.
The plans include pushing ahead with a much-anticipated new station at Bradford, which proponents say would allow young jobseekers from the city to access opportunities across a much wider area.
A new station is also expected at Rotherham Gateway.
Additionally, the Department for Transport (DfT) said that the business case to re-open the Leamside line in the North East would be pursued.
The government has not announced a firm budget or committed specific funds beyond 2029, apart from the £1.1bn to develop the plans.
Instead, a cap of £45bn has been set on central funding. The government said this could be topped up by contributions from local government.
“For too long, the North has been held back by underinvestment and years of dither and delay,” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.
“This new era of investment will not just speed up journeys, it will mean new jobs and homes for people, making a real difference to millions of lives.”
The DfT said lessons had been learned from attempts over the last decade to build the HS2 network, which is severely over budget, behind schedule and has been scaled back dramatically from its original concept.
It was originally supposed to be a Y-shaped line from London and splitting at Birmingham towards Manchester and Leeds.
It will now terminate at Birmingham, and is expected to cost at least £80bn.
The government also said that following NPR’s completion it intended to build a new rail link between Birmingham and Manchester, but it is unclear whether it would be a high-speed line.
The government is aiming to avoid a repeat of the HS2 cost over-runs by producing a detailed plan over a three-year period. That also allows it to delay allocating further funding while the public finances are under pressure.
The Conservatives accused the government of “watering down” Northern Powerhouse Rail, saying ministers had “put back any plans to actually deliver it and rewritten timetables on the fly”.
Shadow rail minister Jerome Mayhew said: “Labour lurch from review to review, deadline to deadline, with no grip on costs, no clarity on scope and no courage to make decisions.
“Northern Powerhouse Rail could have been transformational, empowering regional growth and regeneration. Under Labour it risks becoming a permanent mirage that is endlessly redesigned, downgraded and never delivered.”
The chief executive of the large engineering and construction firm, Arup, Jerome Frost, said the new investment would “help unlock the region’s vast economic potential”.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, an organisation set up to support the coordinated economic development of the north of England, said the plan provided a “clear route to higher productivity growth”.
He continued: “Northern Powerhouse Rail will enable a single labour market more like that of London and the South East so a young person in Bradford could aspire to work in Sheffield or Manchester, or a business there attract talent from further afield than they can today.”