Network Rail has announced a £530m investment package to transform rail travel in the north of England through better stations and quicker, more frequent services .

The Northern Hub study identifies what needs to be done to respond to the significant growth in the region and to help drive economic prosperity.  The plans include:

• A 40% increase in trains per day across the region - 700 extra services
• Capacity for a further 3.5m passengers per year
• Quicker more frequent services for Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield

Iain Coucher, chief executive of Network Rail, said: “Rail is already a massive success story in the north with many thousands of people travelling with us every day and more than 90% of services arriving on time.

“Through better connections, faster services and improved stations we want to trigger wider growth in the north which in turn will support local jobs and businesses.  Our ambitious vision includes miles of track, new platforms and electrification to keep driving up passenger demand while keeping freight on the rails – and lorries off of our already congested roads.”

The Northern Hub proposes significant investment in rail over the next 10 years to build on work which is already underway.  By removing historic bottlenecks – such as at Manchester - it would allow faster linespeeds, reducing journey times.  New track would give greater timetable flexibility – allowing fast trains to overtake and run at speed while still providing space on the network for vital local stopping services and freight.

Key benefits for passengers include:

• Faster services between Liverpool, Chester, Manchester and Manchester Airport and Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, and the North East
• New inter-regional/trans Pennine services, allowing six trains every hour to pass between Leeds and Manchester with journey times as quick as 43 minutes
• Major restoration and improvements to Manchester Victoria. The station would become a major interchange for the north with vastly improved facilities for passengers
• Increasing capacity for freight by doubling the number of paths from the west coast main line to Trafford Park, and making it possible for larger containers to move across the network

The Northern Hub study will be developed over the next two years.

Rail in the North

Passenger numbers are rising year on year thanks to existing improvements in the reliability, speed and comfort of railways in Britain. More people are choosing to travel by rail than at anytime since 1946. Network Rail wants and expects this growth to continue over the next 20 to 30 years as more passengers see the convenience, comfort and environmental benefits of travel by rail.

Freight on Britain’s railways has also increased by 60% in the last 10 years, whilst motorways like the M62 become increasingly congested. Investment to meet this increasing demand is core to Network Rail’s plans and plays a key role in improving the sustainability of Britain’s freight transport system.

The study has been carried out in two parts:

Phase one, led by the Northern Way, identified the economic case for enhancement to rail around Manchester and across the north and the improvements to rail services that would drive this economic growth. This was known as the Manchester Hub study.

This report (16 February 2010) is phase two.  Led by Network Rail it identifies value for money interventions to address the gaps between the capability of the network in 2014 and the capability required to deliver the conditional outputs.

Network Rail will continue to work with the rail industry and stakeholders to develop the plan, and working with our partners we want to win funding for these proposals to be implemented from 2014.