The Government has this afternoon given an indication of what the North can expect in place of the HS2 line
It has promised £4 billion to improve connectivity, which could pay for schemes such as the extension of the Manchester Metrolink to Heywood, Bolton, Wigan and Manchester Airport and bus rapid transit corridors in Manchester.
There will be a brand new £2.5 billion fund to transform local transport for smaller cities, and towns. This new money could pay for new stations, further electrification, bus corridors and new integrated public transport networks.
A £3.3 billion long-term road resurfacing fund for North alone will fix potholes causing misery for drivers and more than £500 million in funding will be provided for two major road schemes around Manchester.
These include a new link road between the M62 and the M60, Manchester’s ring road and the busiest freight route outside the M25. The scheme will help tackle congestion and reduce delays.
£300 million will be available for 9 smaller road schemes: Including the A582 South Ribble Distributor, Kendal Northern Access Route, and the Wigan East-West Route.
On the trains a £5 billion West Yorkshire mass-transit system giving connections to Bradford and Wakefield.
Leeds will no longer be the biggest European city without a mass-transit system, with up to seven lines potentially created as part of a transformed network, eventually linking Leeds to Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, and Wakefield.
Hull will be brought into Northern Powerhouse Rail network: Reducing journey time to Leeds from 58 minutes to just 48.
The number of trains between Hull and Sheffield. Journeys from Hull to Manchester will drop from 107 to 84 minutes, enabling two fast trains to Leeds.
The Sheffield-Leeds line will be electrified and upgraded giving passengers a choice of three to four fast trains an hour with journey times cut from 40 to 30 minutes.
A new mainline station for Rotherham will also be added to the route, boosting capacity by 300 per cent.
The Hope Valley Line between Manchester and Sheffield will be electrified and upgraded cutting journey times from 51 to 42 minutes, and increasing the number of fast trains on the route from two to three per hour, doubling capacity.
There will be a restoration of the Don Valley Line between Stocksbridge and Sheffield Victoria, and new stations at Haxby Station, near York, Waverley, near Rotherham, and the Don Valley Line from Sheffield to Stocksbridge.
