Trains journeys between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street will become much faster taking just 35 minutes,compared to the current 52, when Transpennine Express begins operating on a new route between Manchester and Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows and Lea Green next month.
The changes to the services are part of transformational new timetable launching on the 20th May which will also see two fast services every hour between Newcastle and Manchester calling at York, Leeds and Huddersfield and six trains an hour across the Pennines between Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester.
There will be a new hourly evening services between Hull and Manchester while services to and from Scotland will run direct between Preston and Manchester Piccadilly and will no longer call at Wigan North Western and Manchester Oxford Road.
Commenting on the upcoming timetable change, Leo Goodwin, Managing Director for TransPennine Express said: “This is one of the biggest timetable changes the North has seen and will deliver real benefits for those travelling for work or leisure.
“This is excellent news for customers with more services and additional journey options.
“Customers across our network are already benefitting from a £32million overhaul of our train fleet to like-new standard with the on-board experience having been totally transformed. The upgrade features new high-quality seating and carpets, charging points, fast, free Wi-Fi in both standard and first class plus access to free entertainment system, Exstream. The first of our brand new Nova trains are set to be introduced later this year as part of a £500million investment which will deliver more than 13 million extra seats across the North and into Scotland.”
Transport for the North’s Strategic Rail Programme Director, David Hoggarth said: “This is a period of significant change for rail users in the North as part of the journey to transformed services and rolling stock. TransPennine Express is setting the bar high with its new and refurbished trains and with some real improvements to services. It’s good to see the enhancements and there will be more to come.”
