It’s been six months since the government announced that the second leg of HS2 was to be scrapped, and the money used to fund a series of smaller rail projects in the region. One such project was a high speed rail connecting Liverpool and Manchester – and that project has now received official backing from both Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham, mayors of the respective cities.
If both mayors are re-elected in May, they have promised to oversee the creation of a Liverpool-Manchester railway board which would be part public and part private. This would allow for increased capacity of intercity travel between the regions.
In a statement to the press, Rotherham said that ‘For too long, passengers across the North have been forced to put up with a second class rail service.
‘Our two regions were railway pioneers and we've already shown in the Liverpool City Region how publicly-run transport delivers a much better service for passengers and taxpayers alike. We’ll continue that proud tradition by working to establish a new publicly operated Liverpool-Manchester link.’
According to him, previous plans were insufficient at solving the transport problems in Liverpool, and would have resulted in an already full Liverpool Lime Street being forced to end certain services to make space for trains to Manchester. Rotherham says he believes the best solution would be a brand new station somewhere in the city.
The pair’s aim is to turn the plans into reality within the next five years. Burnham described the scheme as ‘the biggest opportunity the northwest of England will get in this century to put in place infrastructure that is on a par with London and the southeast,’ so it’s likely to be a pretty big priority for him should he get another term as mayor.
Public transport in the UK
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